; f 



'r 



3i 



') 



I. 




Wmt 









I., 



v\^ 



>-• t ■ t^if." 




\ DOBKLL COLLECTION 



1 



THE SEA, 



AND OTHER POEMS. 



rritttftihv FaUantynt .^- ('^ 



THE SEA, 

AND OTHER POEMS. 



EDWARD DALTON, 

RECTOR OF TRAMORE ; 

AUTHOR OF " LECTURES ON THE LIFE OF JOSEPH," 

' THE WATCHFUL PROVIDENCE OF GOD,' *' THE LITERARY BEAUTIES OI 

THE BIBLE," " BRIEF THOUGHTS ON GOD's WORD," ETC. ETC 



^rintcti for pnUate Circuiarion. 



LONDON: 

DALTON AND LUCY, 28 COCKSPUR STREET, 

BOOKSELLERS TO THE OUEEN AND TO H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES. 
1864. 



"XRA^^ 



.5ii 



7.^ 



205449 
'13 



6*^ 



PREFACE. 



A c.KKAT portion of this volume was com- 
posed, and the whole of it prepared for the 
|)ress, during a winter sojourn in the South of 
F'rance. An obstinate attack of bronchitis and 
general debility rendered it necessary that I 
should seek a warmer climate. Debarred from 
the privilege of speaking, and forbidden to oc- 
cupy my mind in much reading or study, I 
found the quiet hours passed in the preparation 
l)leasant, and, I trust, profitable to my own 
mind. None of the poems have any merit. 
They are very simple and unpretentious. They 
are not printed for the public, but simply for 
my numerous relations and the many kind 
friends whose sympathy and correspondence 
cheered my season of trial. They will kindly 
overlook the many and great blemishes with 



vi Preface, 

which the volume abounds. If I had been pre- 
sumptuous enough to pubhsh it, I should cer- 
tainly have dedicated it to my valued friends, 
the Rev. W. Brookes and Dr Griffith, to whose 
kind attentions and able ministrations in their 
respective professions I was so deeply indebted 
during my five months' residence in the delicious 
ch'mate of Hveres. 



CONTENTS. 



Thk Sea— 

Part I. — General, 

Part 11. — The Arctic Sea, 

Part III. — Intermediate, 

Part IV. — The Tropical wSea. 

Part V. — Conclusion, 
The Happy Family, . 
Emblems from Nature — 

The Sea-Eagle, 

The Sea-Birds, 

The Limpet, 

The Sea-Depths, 

The Mountain Pine, 

The Rugged Hill, . 

The Blackthorn, 

The Falling Blossoms, 
Hymn to the Holy Spirit, 
The Bible, 
Crinoline, 

The True Christian Pastor 
"To Die is Gain," 
Love not the World, . 



I 

9 

24 

32 
51 

58 

97 

99 

100 

lOI 
lOI 

102 
103 
106 
110 

115 
121 

132 
139 
141 



VUl 



Contents. 



The Dying Satnt to His Relatives, . 143 

The Believer's Triumph in Death, . 145 

*' Rejoice in the Lord Alway," . . 148 

The Joy of the Lord Our Strength, . 151 

The Isthmian Games, . . . .155 

Valentine and Orson, . . .158 

.The Brevity of Life, .... 169 
Dreams, . . . . . -173 

Hope or Pope, . . . . .180 

The Donkey and the Racehorse, . . 184 

The Fountain of Life, . . .191 

The Stone of ZioN, .... 194 
Lessons Learned in the Chamber of Sickness, 197 
Hymn to Jesus, .... 200 

Sonnet on the Death of My First-born, . 203 
Sonnet on the Death of My Second Child, 204 



THE SEA. 



PART I. — GENERAL. 



"The Sea is His, and He made it." — Psalai xcv. 5. 

Thou wondrous work of God's creative skill, 
Working vast good, and yet stupendous ill ; 
Plan's bounteous friend, and yet his deadly foe, 
From thy broad bosom milk and poison flow. 
Thy hands a thousand precious boons disperse, 
But mingled all with fell and fatal curse ; 
Thy waves have brought to man's glad heart a 

store 
Of treasures countless as the sand upon thy shore ; 
And wrung from broken heart and throbbing brain, 
•More briny drops than all thy depths contain. 
Nations thy waves divide, and yet unite, 
Help them in commerce, hinder them in fight — 
A broad highway in times of gentle peace, 
A broader rampart when those seasons cease. 
Warmed by the sun thy bosom yields us rain, 
And from a thousand rivers drinks it back again — 
How terrible ! yet gentle as the gentlest child ! 
How peaceful, yet how restless ! calm, yet wild ' 

A 



2 The Sea, 

Hurtful, yet useful ! who can strike the scales, 
And say if good or ill, blessing or woe prevails ! 
Clapping thy thousand hands exulting high, 
Lifting thy sounding praise above the sky ; 
Moaning for drowning men a dismal dirge, 
With the hoarse murmur of thy beating surge. 
What contrasts in thy moods and doings meet. 
The fickle wind with thy false ways can scarce 

compete. 
Waking wild terror with thy raging storms. 
Inspiring peace in thy more tranquil forms. 
Thy tumult scares soft sleep from downy bed, 
Thy rippling murmur soothes the aching head. 
The sunset gleams upon thy troubled waves. 
In foam -white breakers bellowing through thy 

caves, 
Like lions for the prey thy rolling billows roar, 
And burst in thunder on the sounding shore : 
The morning sun salutes thy tranquil deeps. 
As calmly noiseless as a child that sleeps. 
Smooth as a glassy mirror s polished face. 
On which nor line nor scar the eye can trace. 
Thy wrath all gone, and o'er thy placid breast. 
The soothing slumber of profoundest rest. 
Childhood can play with thy soft rippling tide, 
And laughing boyhood on thy placid bosom ride ; 
The weary pedlar, footsore pilgi'im cools 
His fevered limbs in thy translucid pools ; 
While thousands of the fair, the young, the brave. 
In thy deep depths have found an early grave. 
Thy colour varies with thy moods and ways, 
Xow dark with gloom, now brilliant with the rays 



Part I. — General, 3 

The noonday sun pours forth in wealth untold, 

Of lustrous glory as of burnished gold 

On all thy waters — then Night's milder Queen, 

Kindles thy surface with her silver sheen. 

At dawn thy breast with purple splendour glows, 

At eve outvies the crimson of the rose — 

White as a wedding robe, thy foaming spray 

Spreads its broad mantle o'er the open bay ; 

While deep beneath the darkly- frowning height, 

Thy stirless depths are black as ebon night. 

Thy blue reflects the azure of the sky, 

Thy mottled gray the cloud-storm passing by. 

Thy green, as pale as hedge-row's opening spray 

Of softest leaflets in the month of May, 

Grows rich in darkest tints of emerald hue, 

As winter's holly or the churchyard yew. 

Most treacherous sea ! brimful of harlot guile. 

Wooing to ruin with thy sunny smile ; 

The sweetest blandest look thy surface decks, 

Conceals a million graves, and twice ten thousand 

wrecks. 
Base traitor ! nursing in thy guilty breast. 
The deepest w^oe for those who trust thee best : 
Kissing the beach with soft caressing lips. 
Crashing the bulwarks of our stoutest ships : 
Tearing thick ribs of iron-plated barks. 
Flinging their living freight as food for sharks ; 
Pounding to shreds the toughest granite wall, 
While iron-welded piers to fragments fall. 
Bearing to man the wealth of every clime, 
Burying thousands in their noblest prime. 
Like balm from thy soft slumbering bosom flow 



4 The Sea, 

Soothing serenity and peace, when lo ! 

Thine airy forces from their dens leap forth, 

Crushing whole navies in their foaming wrath. 

Sublime in fury thy great waters rise 

In one dark mass to mingle sea and skies ; 

Like crested monsters in a headlong race, 

Or rolling mountains in a giant chase. 

Thy deepest depths like seething caldrons boil, 

In deadly strife the elements embroil, 

And buried deep beneath thy giant surge 

A nation's boundless wealth and arms submerge. 

The proudest fleets can find no sheltering shield, 

But low before thy surging tempests yield ; 

And yet thy placid waves will harmless float, 

In playful peace the infant's paper boat I 

No human force can curb thy stubborn will, 

Bind thy fierce arms, or bid thy waves be still. 

No might of man can stem thy turbid tide. 

No skill of man thy surging billows guide ; 

Wafting vast wealth and woe to every shore, 

We fear thee, dread thee, yet we love thee more ; 

Yield to the magic of thy wooing smile. 

To perish victims of thy matchless guile. 

Yield to thy sunny but seductive charm. 

To sink beneath thy sweeping crushing arm: 

Love thee when calm, but dread thy passions wild, 

Terror of navies, plaything for a child ! 

On yonder rocky headland once reposed 

A keep, of massive masonry composed, 

With firm foundations deeply out of sight, 

Proudly defiant from its lofty height, 

Frowning contempt upon the waves that beat 



Part /. — GeneraL 5 

In ceaseless din low down beneath its feet. 

Its glory now is gone, and in its shattered walls, 

Its nodding turrets and its shapeless halls, 

Vast chasms tell of some tremendous power 

Which vanquished rock and battlement and tower : 

That force, O sea ! was thine ; thy hammer hand 

Swept off the shingle from the basement strand. 

Smote like a catapult the solid rock 

With many a giant stroke and wintry shock ; 

Advancing and retiring, day by day. 

Year after year, in ceaseless restless play, 

Thy tidal waves kept up their ebb and flow. 

With changeless aim to lay its ramparts low : 

Scooped out the rock in hollow caverns deep. 

Fretted and wore and mined the stately steep. 

Inch after inch, with patient toil ; and then, 

When women wept hot tears for drowning men, 

And ships went down before the fiery blast, 

And shores were strevrn with splintered spar and 

mast. 
One wintry night, with one wild rush of foam, 
Thy marshalled waves were hurled and driven 

home. 
In force resistless with terrific power. 
And breached the outworks of that mighty tower. 
The deep foundations of that castle keep. 
Were swept far out beneath the hoary deep ; 
Its shattered curtain, and its tough old wall 
Crashed like a peal of thunder in their fall ; 
Its ancient grandeur gone, its blighted form 
Looms like a spectre through the mocking storm. 
And yet small grains of sand laid side by side, 



6 The Sea. 

Stay the wild march of thy tumultuous tide ! 

Great work of God ! thy strength defies the arm 

Of puny man thy swelling rage to calm, 

Hush the hoarse murmur of thy wailing dirge, 

Or stem the onset of thy boiling surge. 

The hand omnipotent, that made thee first, 

When o'er the world thy foaming waters burst, 

Alone can rule thy fiercely-raging tide, 

Thy thunders hush, thy drifting forces guide ! 

One word of His can bid thy tumult cease, 

And speak thy fury to profoundest peace ; 

However turbulent thy waters roll, 

They move harmonious to His wise control. 

Without His will no seraph spreads his wing, 

No lark with song of glory makes the welkin ring ; 

No tempest stays a recreant prophet's flight, 

Or gulfs a monarch's arms in ruthless night ; 

No wreck sends up its wild and wailing moan, 

Without its fiat from His burning throne ! 

Thy storms and currents waft to many a shore, 

The plant which never clothed its hills before ; 

The seed of flower, of tree, of useful grain, 

To glad man's eye, his wasting strength sustain ; 

With golden harvests recompense his toil. 

With glowing beauty to engrace the soil. 

Thus did thy tempests drive with headlong force 

The great Apostle from his onward course ; 

Toss him aside on some barbarian land, 

And wreck his vessel on its cheerless strand. 

Most precious waif ! more rich than freight of gold, 

(^r store of gems of fabled worth untold ! 

That living casket through the tempest's strife, 



Part I, — General, 

Bore to that isle the seed of endless life ; 
Planted upon its soil sweet Sharon's rose, 
Each lovely grace that from the Gospel grows ; 
And, with the banquet of a Saviour's love, 
Strengthened its sons to mount to worlds above. 
Still thus beneath the Church's living Head, 
Thy boundless wastes interminably spread. 
Waft the good seed throughout the mission-field, 
Thy strife the fruits of peace and solace yield ; 
Each storm that rages, and each wave that rolls, 
Swells the rich harvest of immortal souls. 
O sea ! thou sleepest in His mighty hand. 
Who framed thy cradle of the coral strand, 
Who bade thy v/aters lave each rocky shore. 
To do His high behests and do no more. 
His mandate still commands thy tide to flow. 
Thus far to swell, and then no farther go. 
He, in thy vast abyss and boundless space. 
Has mirror'd forth His own abounding grace. 
Made thee an emblem of the ocean love, 
That flows so freely from His throne above, 
Deeper than all thy depths, immensely vast, 
That knows no change and shall for ever last ; 
Like thee. His priceless love is brimming o'er, 
With boundless wealth of gifts for every shore, 
And scatters broadcast on the wings of time. 
Ten thousand boons to men of every clime ; 
Like thee. His bosom can with anger swell. 
And bury sinners in the depths of hell. 
Jesus, who loves lost man, redeems and saves, 
Walked when on earth thy rudely rolling waves, 
With voice majestic, and with outstretched arm, 



/ 



8 The Sea, 

Hushed thy wild tempest to a peaceful calm ! 
And still thy^waters in their fury own, 
JThe voice that issues from His dazzling throne. 
'In the new Earth, thy wild tumultuous main 
Shall never heave its throbbing pulse again — 
Thy tempest rage, thy surges beat no more, 
Thy billows bruise and lash no friendly shore, 
No separation in that world of peace. 
No death or sickness, thy rough waves must cease ; 
Then shall thy destined course be fully run. 
Thy work for weal or woe completely done ; 
As was thy birth, thine end shall be sublime, 
Nobly to perish in the death of Time. 
In liquid melody roll forth thy waves, 
Wake up the echoes of thy thousand caves ; 
Clap loud and louder still thy myriad hands, 
P)eat white with foam thy hundred thousand 

strands ; 
Lift up, lift up thy lion voice on high. 
Raise high and higher yet above the sky 
Thy shout of tribute to the plastic hand. 
That formed thee, guides thee, girds thee with the 

sand ; 
In peals of sounding thunder fling abroad 
The lofty praises of thy ^Mighty LORD ! 



THE SEA. 



PART II. — THE ARCTIC SEA. 



•' Out of whose womb came the ice ? and the hoary frost of heaven, 
who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, 
and the face of the deep is frozen." — Job xxxviii. 29, 30. 

' " By the breath of God frost is given : and the breadth of the waters 
is straitened." — Job xxxvii. 10. 

"He giveth snow like wool: He scattereth the hoar frost like 
ashes. He casteth forth His ice like morsels : who can stand 
before His cold ?" — Psaoi cxlvii. 16, 17. 

Amid thy boundless deserts ice-cong-ealed, 
What surface charms and glories stand revealed, 
And yet what deadly horrors lie concealed 
Beneath the splendours of thine Arctic breast, 
Where all things sleep in petrifying rest. 
Where icebergs raise their pinnacles on high, 
With columned shafts and domes that reach the sky, 
And spread a maze of mystic forms to view 
In outline sharp athwart the cloudless blue. 
The mind bewildered, yields its guiding rein, 
And fervid fancy with her teeming train 
Of fond conceptions, pressing on the brain 
Wild guesses what such wondrous things can mean, 
Fills up the outline of the mimic scene 



lo ^ The Sea. 

With strange devices and fantastic forms, 
Gendered of sunlight or of mists and storms, 
Things more than monstrous, that as spectres gleam, 
Or glide grotesquely in an endless stream, 
Through the wild phases of a midnight dream. 
Thick forests, fringing overhanging heights, 
Emblazoned banners of a thousand fights. 
Armies of heroes marshalled for the fray. 
With helmets flashing in the light of day ; 
Priestly processions in their robes of white, 
Croziers all gemmed and mitres bathed in light ; 
Cathedral spires that pierce the distant cloud, 
And point to Him who can abase the proud ; 
Huge castle gates and battlemented towers, 
And Titan clocks to chime Creation's hours ; 
Vast cannon placed the planets to defy 
And hurl confusion through the starry sky ; 
Mountains on mountains piled in countless rows, 
Their summits capped with everlasting snows ; 
Gigantic monsters of a nameless form. 
And Babel structures that out-top the storm ; 
Bright crystal palaces of dazzling sheen. 
As though within, the sun sat throned as Queen ; 
Wide valleys strewn and carpeted with flowers, 
And hill-sides lovely with their jewelled bowers ; 
Grottoes -to tempt us to the hermit's fate, 
Their lustrous beauty as their silence great. 
And throned on hills beneath the tranquil sky. 
Lifting their lofty battlements on high. 
Fair cities stand with glory all ablaze, 
Reflecting all the rainbow's peerless rays ; 
With spreading porticoes and spacious halls, 



Part II, — The Arctic Sea. 1 1 

And gates of jasper and transparent walls ; 

Pillars of silver set with precious stones, 

And god-like figures on their sapphire thrones ; 

Wide markets strewn with coronets of gold, 

And richest velvet tissues all unrolled. 

Most costly robes and shawls of Tyrian dye. 

Of every type to please the tutored eye ; 

As though the fabled wealth of Eastern shrines, 

And all the riches of Golconda's mines. 

And all the treasures of ten thousand lands, 

And ocean's tribute from her coral strands, 

With lavish hand were in profusion poured, 

One vast oblation to Creation's Lord. 

Winter with chilling breath benumbs thy tide, 

And spreads its icy carpet far and wide. 

Freezing thy waves in undulating grace. 

Like fairy network of resplendent lace ; 

While isles of frosted silver sweetly rest. 

Like gems of beauty on thy placid breast. 

Now silence deep, profound and solemn reigns, 

No sound is heard throughout thy frozen plains ; 

Beneath, around, and in the starry dome. 

Silence has fixed her everlasting home ; 

Our spirits seem to tread some hallowed fane, 

The sound of softest footfall would profane. 

When lo ! with startling crash of fallmg piles. 

As though roof, buttress, dome, and cloistered aisles, 

In one huge ruin laid by sudden stroke. 

As when the lightning blasts some giant oak. 

Or castles topple from their basement rock. 

Mined by the earthquake's rude and sturdy shock ; 

Waking hoarse echoes loud as thunder's roar, 



12 The Sea, 

Or beat of billows on the iron shore. 
What varied beauty in the frozen forms, 
That pass before us in thy calms and storms ! 
Some by the solid grandeur of their size 
And massive majesty delight our eyes ; 
Others like white-winged fairies in the dance, 
With floating robes in graceful troops advance, 
And by their airy lightness all our souls entrance. 
Most wondrous scene ! as though the promised Rest, 
The Holy City of the pure and blest 
Had come from heaven and found its fittest place, 
Far from the haunts of man's polluted race : 
As though the massive gates of Eden's fold 
Flung wide, revealed the streets of burnished gold. 
And long broad avenues and vistas bright 
Filled with the shining ones who reign in light ; 
Angels with flashing crowns and golden lyres, 
And looks that glow with zeal's seraphic fires. 
Throng in dense crowds the everlasting aisles. 
With snow-white wings and sweetly-dazzling smiles : 
Bright choristers, whose harps were vocal first 
When on their ravished sight Creation burst, 
Whose sweeter chorus like an anthem pealed. 
From airy heights above Judea's field. 
When God Incarnate by His lowly birth, 
Brought dove-like peace and lasting life to earth. 
Do seraphs in their thoughtful moods serene. 
Gaze on the beauty of that magic scene ? 
And from its marvels through the circling hours 
Catch glimpses of their Maker's wondrous powers : 
Or was it spread beneath its brilliant skies, 
In all its wealth of lovely forms and dyes, 



Part II. — The A 7^ die Sea. 13 

Far distant from the ken of mortal eyes, 

That God alone, the great eternal mind. 

In His own work an endless feast might find, 

And shield from sin one spot His skill designed ? 

'Mid virgin whiteness unsurpassed, below 

Soft mantle deep of pure untrodden snow, 

Coffined in crystal, Franklin's body sleeps. 

Where thick-ribbed ice the saintly relic keeps 

Free from corruption and the churchyard worm, 

Of immortality the sacred germ. 

Till the last trumpet's shrill and startling sound 

Loud pealing through that solitude profound. 

Wakes it as precious seed for glory sown 

In bliss to stand before the great white throne. 

Thrice happy soul that passed that crystal portal. 

To take its rank among the saints immortal. 

Who left on earth a hero's deathless fame, 

A saint's renown, a martyr's nobler name : 

That burst its chrysalis to wing its flight 

To cloudless regions of eternal light, 

And dropped its shell to slumber for a space 

Where it had gained the goal and won its race, 

Embalmed by nature's hand and screened from ill 

With more than Eastern art and matchless skill. 

No monarch resting in his marble hall. 

With jewelled drapery and crimson pall. 

No virgin swathed in milk-white robe or shroud, 

In tomb with princely revenues endowed. 

For priests in thousands to perform their rites. 

With smoking altars and with quenchless lights, 

No pomp of sepulchre the most sublime 

That graced our planet from the birth of time, 



14 The Sea. 

Could equal that august and noble sight, 

Witnessed by seraphs from their thrones of light, 

When Franklin rested from his toils and pains, 

And left his worn but ever-loved remains, 

To sleep a while within a grander hall 

With richer canopy and purer pall 

Than ever king, or pontiff, queen or maid. 

Had o'er them reared or on their coffin laid. 

That sky could weep no black or scalding tear 

Of grief or pity on that honoured bier, 

For never sheds it dew or balmy rain 

O'er the broad surface of the ice-bound plain ; 

But sent its snowflakes like pure angels down 

With pearl-white wreath his knightly brow to crown. 

And there he sleeps in mausoleum piled 

By God's own hand for His own favoured child, 

Not built by man, or cunningly designed 

By his too feeble though inventive mind ; 

But by the mind eternal wisely planned, 

And raised and fashioned by His plastic hand. 

No chisel shaped its massive forms of grace, 

No mortal laid them in their fitting place. 

No painter gave that ample dome its dyes, 

No builder reared those shafts of Titan size, 

No arm upheaved those vast colossal blocks, 

Those countless pyramids of crystal rocks. 

No handicraft of man the skill supplied 

That strewed those spreading glories far and wide : 

But God's own arm the mystic fabric made, 

And God's own hand the hero in it laid. 

Amidst the splendours of that palace tomb. 

Where death has lost its terror and its gloom, 



Part II. — The Arctic Sea. i 5 

Where spotless angels ceaseless vigil keep, 

Brave Franklin sleeps his long refreshing sleep, 

Ready and joyful at the trumpet's call 

To burst the ice folds of his stainless pall. 

Glowing beneath the play of Northern Lights. 

Thy Polar regions furnish noblest sights 

Of rarest beauty and resplendent dyes, 

That dazzle, ravish, and delight our eyes. 

What pen can paint, what glowing tongue proclaim 

The glories of those cataracts of flame, 

Those meteor comets in an endless maze. 

That flash, and fall, and rise, and madly blaze, 

That glitter, glimmer, rush with sweeping trains, 

Like thoughts that burn through madmen's reehng 

brains : 
Luminous, tinctured with a thousand dyes 
Of form fantastic and portentous size : 
A dome of living light with grandeur graced. 
A million lustrous rainbows interlaced, 
A thousand arches pearled with sparkling dew, 
And endless shafts of ever-changing hue : 
Those flaming swords of seraph hosts that gleam. 
And flit through heaven in one mcessant stream, 
That falling shower of rich metallic dyes 
Like drops of liquid gold from melting skies : 
Those ample torrents of descending nre. 
Those belts of light and coruscations dire. 
The fiery efflorescence of the sky, 
That with the tints of future gloiy vie ! 
A glowing canopy of brilliant flowers. 
Like blazing gems from vast Elysian bowers. 
Stars countless with unearthly glories bright, 



1 6 The Sea. 

Fountains outpouring dazzling streams of light ; 
Seraphs with brimming bounty scattering gems, 
In jewelled robes and flashing diadems, 
Angels whose flaming wing and lightning glance, 
And graceful swiftness all our souls entrance. 
And yet all these are but the surface smiles, 
That lure to ruin like the harlot's guiles ; 
Thy spangled dress more hollow, frail, and vain, 
Than mocking mirage of the desert plain. 
Thy beauteous glories cheat the ravished sense, 
Thy seeming warmth of welcome all pretence ; 
No warmth is thine but coldest shades of death ; 
Thy bosom heaves with naught but chilling breath. 
The heavens rain forth their meteor showers, 
Spread their rich canopy of fiery flowers, 
Pour their red lightning in broad rivers down, 
With jewelled splendour all thy mountains crown. 
But to deceive and light with flashing torch 
The vestibule of hell and death's relentless porch. 
No perfume boast thy flowers, their lustrous blaze 
And warmth of colour but refracted rays ; 
Their dazzling brightness all a passing show 
That fades as swiftly as the sunset glow ; 
And all thy fairy scenes, however bright, 
Baseless as visions of the dreamy night. 
Fit palace for that ruthless king of kings, 
With the broad death-shade of his ebon wings. 
Who covers all our globe, and rules and reigns. 
And scatters thick a thousand aches and pains ; 
Deathless himself, an iron sceptre wields 
O'er softest couches, as on bloody fields ; 
With savage zest smites all his subjects down, 



Part II. — The Arctic Sea. 17 

King, pedant, parson, or the rustic clown ; 
Whose frozen heart no touch of pity knows, 
To sweetest babe or fairest maid no favour shows ; 
Against whose giant stride and sweeping arm 
Avails no innocence, or prayer, or charm ; 
With stony eye that mocks the warmest breasts, 
With scythe that never blunts, and hand that never 

rests ; 
Zeal that will never for a day be still 
To wipe his moistened brow or stay his work of ill. 
But restless, sleepless, daily, hourly, reaps ; 
Piles up his helpless victims heaps on heaps ; 
Claims as his prey a terror-stricken world. 
While through its fairest realms his venomed shafts 

are hurled. 
Most fitting palace for his awful throne. 
Whose varied terrors scarce surpass thine own ; 
Whose dread decrees against the good and great, 
Unbending attributes of sternest fate, 
Softened, averted, or avoided, never. 
But fixed, determined, changeless ever, 
In clearest type and emblem we can trace 
Stamped on each feature of thy frozen face. 
Imaged and graven on thy yawning tomb. 
Roofed with black horrors, floored w^ith blacker 

gloom. 
Bleak desolation all above, around. 
No hopeful object and no cheering sound, 
No sign of tenderness far off or near 
To soothe the eye or glad the closing ear ; 
Gloom reigns at night and terrors haunt the day, 
All objects frighten and all sounds dismay. 
B 



1 8 The Sea. 

Dull heavy booming of thy mournful surges, 
Moaning most sad and melancholy dirges, 
As though thy billows slowly rose and fell 
To sound the drowning seaman's parting knell ; 
Deep-vaulted caves and cheerless dungeons vast 
Their frozen depths with horror overcast, 
Their dark recesses' deep sepulchral gloom, 
Murky as midnight, sullen as the tomb, 
Moonlight or starlight shed no feeble ray. 
Struggling to bless them with the dawn of day ; 
Tremendous clefts, as dark as shades of death ; 
Poised avalanches, waiting but a breath ; 
Broad chasms, like the open mouth of hell. 
Whose pitchy gloom no rays of hope dispell ; 
While horrid forms like shapeless spectres loom 
Deep down the yawning pit's appalling gloom ; 
Keen biting winds and marrow-freezing blasts 
Wield their rude sceptre while the winter lasts ; 
C^rim death rides proudly on the chilly gale, 
His steed all foaming with the hoar-frost pale, 
Lurks in deep ambush in the yawning rifts, 
Floats on the iceberg and the buoyant drifts, 
Scatters his death-snow with a noiseless tread. 
White as the winding-sheet to wrap the dead ; 
Crowds the whole scene with sad and sombre gloom, 
Turns the fair vision to a brilHant tomb, 
Fills it with terrors stoutest hearts dismay, 
And horrors grouped in terrible array. 
His shafts fly keenly through the whistling breeze, 
And all our warmth exhaust, and all our vitals freeze. 
As rash intruders falhng thick and fast 
Beneath the ice-breath of thy piercing blast. 



Part II. — The Arctic Sea. 19 

Our gallant sailors with their iron frames, 
Hardened from childhood by athletic games, 
As infants nursed and rudely lulled to sleep 
By the rough cradle of the rocking deep ; 
In boyhood braced to deeds of noble daring, 
Their fathers' toils and hardy perils sharing, 
The sturdy vigour of their stalwart forms 
Robustly seasoned by a thousand storms, 
With thews and sinews strong with manly sport, 
With dauntless hearts of oak that quail at nought, 
Sink like a babe beneath thy fatal breath. 
Swept as dry leaves before the blast of death 
In anguished horror through the cheerless gloom, 
While howling gusts sweep round their yawning 

tomb. 
Most hapless mortals whose intruding feet 
Venture, with fatal hardihood, to meet 
The full fell fury of thy whirlwind storms, 
And death in all its worst and darkest forms, 
To find in battling with thy wintry strife 
A savage contrast to their former life ; 
Their feet accustomed on their native shore, 
Destined, alas ! to reach and press no more, 
On downy tufts of springy moss to tread, 
In fields with warm elastic verdure spread. 
Now find rough fields and granite-hardened plains, 
Where frost in one eternal winter reigns ; 
In lieu of pastures warm, and fresh, and green, 
Endless wide wastes of blinding white are seen, 
Dazzling the eyeball strained by frozen air, 
With untoned sameness and w^ith blasting glare. 
Cold icy pavement, or dead-heavy snow, 



20 The Sea, 

Usurp the place of springing grass below. 
When sickness fiercely racks their tortured frame, 
Or fever wastes them with its burning flame, 
No downy couch invites the aching limb 
To slumber sweetly, while the soothing hymn 
Murmured in plaintive sympathy and love, 
Like angel warblings from the realms above. 
Sheds o'er the sleeping spirit calm repose, 
And healing balsam for its lengthened woes ; 
No hand of wife or mother gently spreads 
Smoothed pillow soft beneath their sinking heads. 
No sister's voice can point them to the skies. 
No daughter's tender hand can close their sight- 
less eyes. 
Death-breathing gusts assail their dying ears 
With sounds of children's sobs, or mothers' falling 

tears. 
While widows' groans and orphans' dismal wails 
Come floating dirge-like on the icy gales ; 
Sins of the past, with deep remorse and pain. 
Steal in long vistas o'er their dying brain. 
No marvel if the stoutest spirits fail. 
And bravest seamen at the prospect quail ; 
By such a dismal death they dread to die. 
And, wrung with terror, raise the anguished cry, 
" Welcome grim death, in all its wildest forms, 
Engulfed to sink in madly-beating storms, 
In burning bark to stifling death awake. 
The bloody scaffold or the martyr's stake, 
Pining to die in human tigers' fangs 
By coolly-measured wrench and nice-computed 
pangs ; 



Part II. — The Algetic Sea. 2 i 

To torture keen each fibre sharply strung, 
Each nerve and muscle to distraction wrung. 
Yes, any death, or all these deaths combined, 
With all their pangs increased, and all their pains 

refined, 
Rather than this ; oh ! let our dying eyes 
Gaze on the brightness of some milder skies, 
Our fevered brow be cooled and softly fanned 
By gentle breezes, that with angel hand 
Appear to waft us to that better land ; 
Our last breath mixed on thee, our ocean home, -. 
With the free gales that o'er thy bosom roam. 
Oh ! let no stern or savage terrors crowd 
Around our deathbed like an angry cloud, 
But well-known sights, and each familiar sound 
Our spirits cheer, our parting souls surround ; 
The solemn music of thy grand old voice 
Our sea-nursed souls and heart's deep chords re- 
joice. 
Rocked to our last long sleep of peaceful rest 
By the loved pulses of thy heaving breast." 
But what are sailors' groans, or mothers' fears, 
Orphans' laments, or widows' scalding tears 
To thee, O sea? Thine Arctic bosom knows 
No melting mood, no sympathy for woes ; 
Thy heart relentless as the shades of death, 
As cold and icy as thy freezing breath. 
While thy cold waves in heedless billows foam, 
The warmly-throbbing breast in distant home 
Mourns in deep anguish father, husband, child. 
On whose loved form the heart for years had smiled, 
Absent and lost in thy most dreary wastes, 



2 2 The Sea, 

And doubt's dread slowly-lingering torture tastes. 
What pangs of sorrow rend that sleepless breast, 
What nameless horrors scare away its rest ! 
Sad mothers weep with hot and fevered eyes, 
Knowing full well their heart's best treasure lies 
All night exposed to thy benumbing skies, 
Or sleeps in still and ever dead repose 
Beneath the covert of thy lasting snows. 
Thy hardened breast refuses to the dead 
A verdant mantle for their lowly head ; 
No weaving grass or daisy-hillock grows 
To mark their resting-place beneath thy snows. 
Yes, where yon dismal ice-blocked shores appear, 
W^hile jagged mountains in the distant rear 
With grandeur lift their snowy peaks on high 
To chill the star-warmth of that Polar sky, 
The sun's weak rays just dipping o'er the sea, 
Whose struggling warmth can scarce be said to be, 
Call forth faint symptoms of the feeblest life. 
Plants that wage ever an unequal strife 
With frost and tempest from their sickly birth 
On the cold bosom of the warmthless earth. 
Screeching wild sea-birds mix their hoarsest tones 
With the rough north wind's melancholy moans, 
While breakers boom with dull and sullen roar. 
In harshest thunder, on the hardened shore. 
From time to time, between them all resound. 
The walrus bellowing like a beaten hound. 
And, slowly floating through the frosty air, 
The distant roaring of the Polar bear. 
Hut when thy summer's brief career is run. 
And sunk for months thy feebly-burning sun ; 



Part II. — The Arctic Sea, 23 

When darkness, with its ebon sceptre reigns, 

With gloom Tartarian o'er thy barren plains ; 

When, like a pall, the doleful skies are spread 

With jet-black sombrous curtains overhead ; 

And through the dismal void no meteors shine, 

Or round the belted horizontal line 

No feeble rays in struggling weakness shoot, 

The animal creation, hushed and mute, 

Is heard no more, no living sounds affright, 

Or break the stillness of the Arctic night. 

Around each icy shaft and snowy peak, 

And crystal column, whistling whirlwinds shriek, 

Through hollow^ chasms of the iceberg moan, 

With dismal sigh and soul-depressing groan. 

For three long months that Arctic darkness lasts, 

For three long months no luminary casts 

Bright light or sun-warmth on that dreary scene. 

Or wakes to life one blade or frond of green. 

The earth's broad belt in death and night entombed, 

Sunless, is rarely, if at all, illumed 

By sudden flashes of the northern lights. 

Whose brilliant play around the mountain heights 

Mock, by the flicker of their dying blaze. 

The moon's faint glow of scant and sickly rays. 

There, in those death-still Polar solitudes, 

The glacier's thick-ribbed chilling mass protrudes 

Farther and farther through the fringe of foam 

That marks the bounds of ocean's hoary home, 

Till, rent by tides that ceaseless fret and lash 

Its giant base, the iceberg, with a crash 

Loud as the avalanche, w^ith hellish hiss, 

Rolls, plunging headlong to the deep abyss. 



THE SEA. 



PART III. — IXTERMEDI.\TE. 



■ H'j cau.^^'ith the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth."" — 
Psalm cx.xxv. 7. 

The icebergs loosened from their Northern home, 
PToat their huge bulk on rolling seas of foam, 
In stately grandeur move like lofty Alps, 
While snow-white chaplets crown their crystal 

scalps ; 
Their summits fringed with pinnacle and spire. 
Sky-stretching fingers pointing ever higher ; 
While round the base unceasing conflicts roar. 
Where waves in hostile rage their wildest forces 

pour. 
Through the blue rifts the beating surf resounds, 
From the tall sides the baffled wave rebounds ; 
With all the fury of its rudest shock, 
Its charge is child's sport to that crystal rock. 
A rim of splendour as of liquid gold 
Adorns the mass in pomp of bulk unrolled, 
A yellow lambent flame that flits and dies, 
In wondrous softness round its ample size. 



Part III. — Intcrvicdiatc. 25 

And floating like a halo all around, 
Veiling and hovering o'er the dead white ground, 
A tinted atmosphere of throbbing air, 
Dove-colour, azure delicately fair. 
Of beauty exquisite, a warmth imparts 
To kindle rapture in the coldest hearts. 
Spirit of beauty ! where beneath the sky 
Doth scene more lovely feast the ravished eye ? 
See through the broken icefields slowly steering, 
A second towering moving ice-berg nearing, 
Stilly and solemn, while its mountain form 
Threatens wide havoc like a brooding storm. 
Like giant twins the monstrous bergs draw near, 
Colossal foes to crash in mid career ; 
When, fearful sight 1 the closing bergs between, 
Some brave explorer's hapless bark is seen. 
No breath of wind to fill her flapping sails. 
Oft torn to shreds by former wintry gales, 
Her crew all paralysed with trembling gloom, 
The bark lies motionless to meet her doom, 
Crushed like a shell between those closing walls, 
Sunk by some shattered summit as it falls. 
In that dread moment of extreme suspense. 
When man's arm fails for succour or defence, 
A low-washed berg comes floating into range. 
Worked into motion by some current strange. 
The seamen's eagle eyes with lightning glance, 
See in that berg their last remaining chance, 
To follow in the course it seems to take 
And push their vessel in its hoary wake. 
Despair now leaves them with its leaden wings, 
In every breast a hope of rescue springs : 



26 The Sea. 

Guided by God and nerved by buoyant hope, 

They plant an anchor on its frosted slope. 

The two huge icebergs on their axes whirling, 

Snow from their tops in palsied tremor hurling, 

Roaring and grinding through the troubled main, 

Moment by moment on each other gain ; 

The passage narrows to some forty feet, 

The overhanging summits seem to meet. 

The captain's voice in that dread silence mute, 

From soul-deep feelings painfully acute, 

Awed by the peril, at the last is heard, 

Drops from his firm-set lips one thrilling word ; 

The seamen catch that whisper clear but soft, 

Swarm up the shrouds to brace the yards aloft, 

Handle the halliards and the canvas clew, 

To clear the icewalls as they labour through. 

Most anxious moment, life and death depend, 

On how that scheme succeeds and what its speedy 

end ! 
That noble berg with spray-besprinkled brow. 
Tears up the small ice like an iron plough ; 
The gallant bark, held on by whale-line taut, 
By her strange tow-horse through the pass is 

brought, 
Plucked from the very jaws of yawning fate. 
Saved by a Providence as new as great. 
And when that perilled vessel struggles clear. 
And leaves these icebergs in the distant rear, 
Her crew, with bended knee and faltering breath, 
Give thanks for rescue from that awful death. 
Thus, when the guilty sinner stricken down, 
Beneath r^Iount Sinai's all-consuming frown, 



Part III. — Ijitcnncdiate, 27 

In terror sees an angry God launch forth 

The scathing arrows of His burning wrath, 

And rinds no outlet from the circling gloom 

That storms and threatens with a crushing doom : 

Flight there is none, resistance all in vain, 

Who could that mountain's awful weight sustain ? 

In that dread hour of peril and of need, 

When help must reach him if at all with speed. 

Heavenward and Godsent comes the needed aid, 

The Mighty Christ on whom our help was laid : 

To Him the sinner casts his yearning eyes, 

As one who brings him succour from the skies. 

With ner^'ous death-grip grasps His saving hand ; 

Emboldened by His voice of sweet command, 

Fastens the anchor of his trembling soul 

To His pledged word to make the vilest whole. 

Great as his peril is, and great his need, 

And swift the aid required to make his cause succeed, 

His faith has fastened on the chosen Rock. 

That bears him scathless through the tempest's 

shock, 
Hurls back the fury of temptation's wave. 
Lifts him high up above the yawning grave ; 
Quenches the lightnings of the Law's dread fire, 
Quells the loud clamour of its vengeful ire ; 
With mercy's hand of rescue draws him forth, 
Safe through the billows of Almighty wrath ; 
Safe through the closing jaws of death and hell, 
Safe to that home of rest where '^ all is well." 
And after clearing this triumphant way 
Through foes and perils to the realms of day, 
Crowning with peace his once distracted breast, 



28 The Sea, 

Flooding his soul with heaven's unbroken rest, 
Bids him give thanks in lofty-sounding lays, 
With rapture sweep the golden harp of praise, 
And as he bows before His smiling face, 
Rehearse the riches of His boundless grace ; 
A witness, proving to the hosts above. 
The brimming fulness of His matchless love. 
The giant icebergs cheated of their prey, 
Close like two athletes in a deadly fray ; 
Both in the crash from base to summit quake, 
With trembling spasms to the centre shake ; 
And as their fabrics reel and rudely rock 
Beneath the fury of that earthquake shock, 
The doubt seems which colossal mass shall burst. 
Crumble to powder, sink to ruin first. 
But one contains some latent inward cause, 
Some hollow chasm or some hidden flaws. 
Which make it splinter like the riven oak. 
Pierced by the red bolt's devastating stroke ; 
Walls, turrets, castles, drop and fall asunder, 
Crashing and tumbling with the roll of thunder. 
Thunders repeated, and redoubled louder. 
Lifting their grand voice ever higher, prouder. 
The startled waves the wild commotion share. 
Enormous sheaves of foam spring up and burst in 

air. 
Green giant waves in circles roll away. 
Crested and capped with creamy lines of spray ; 
fragments of ice, blocks, shafts, and pillars, leap 
In all directions from the troubled deep ; 
Huge masses, Hke high bulwarks smitten prone. 
By mines exploded, rent, and overthrown, 



Pa7^t III, — I liter mediate. 29 

In all the weakness of their prostrate strength, 
Fill the wide field in all its breadth and length : 
One lofty steeple swaying to and fro, 
Stands in the midst a spectacle of woe, 
Like some thinned regiment who refuse to yield 
Midst the dread carnage of the battle-field. 
The berg that triumphed, with majestic pride 
Rides like a victor on the swelling tide, 
Compact, unbroken, through the roaring spray, 
Pursues m stately pomp its onward way. 
Not long to triumph, though its topmost spire 
Lit by the sunbeam, glows with golden fire. 
The vanquished sink in conquest's crimson tide, 
Loud shouts proclaim their victor's haughty pride, 
But victors too are mortal and must yield 
To death the laurels of each purple field. 
Swift as the lightning, as the thunder loud, 
The sky unspotted by a single cloud, 
A crash terrifx as the trump of doom, 
Caused by some hidden force in nature's womb. 
One short sharp silvery ringing blow^, 
Strikes through green ice and overhanging snow, 
Splits to the centre the colossal block, 
Rolls down a cataract of crystal rock, 
Shakes off its lofty pinnacles of pride, 
Strips off the turrets from its haughty side. 
Gives them up headlong to the greedy wave. 
As humbled monarchs to the yawning grave. 
Robbed of its splendour, shorn of half its bulk, 
Graceless and rude as storm-dismantled hulk. 
It southward wends its sluggish dreamy way, 
Slowly but surely wasting to decay ; 



30 The Sea. 

Till in the tepid Gulf-stream's swelling surge 

Its last-left streaks of melting drift-ice merge. 

The waters disenthralled from icy chains, 

Like joyous bondmen freed from prison pains, 

Leap forth and flow with bright and flashing gleam 

Down the great equatorial rapid stream, 

Which rolls with faithful constancy, and hastes 

To join the torrid ocean's boundless wastes. 

Wonderful movement! Nature's magic race, 

In which her forces endless circles trace ; 

Each varied change with benefits replete. 

From heat to cold, from cold to glowing heat ! 

Most wondrous chemistry of startling facts. 

Rich proofs of skilled design in Nature's acts ! 

Those self-same elements which cold restrains, 

And holds fast bound in adamantine chains. 

In massive blocks, thick-ribbed and doubly-barred, 

Solid as flint, as brazen anvils hard, 

Flow softly and in gentle currents run 

As tepid waves beneath the torrid sun ; 

Then lifted by its heat in vapour rise 

To cool the ardour of those burning skies. 

Assuage the fury of their scorching glare, 

And bless with dewy balm the stifling air. 

On the cold currents of the upper sky. 

Wafted like chariots to the north they fly 

Back to their homes, and on their restless way, 

Scatter soft dewdrops of refreshing spray. 

Or from their ample wombs drop gentle rains 

To fertilise the parched and w^eary plains. 

Bountiful circuit ! softening both extremes, 

Warming the poles and cooling torrid beams ! 



Part III. — Intcinncdiate. 31 

As icebergs floating to the southern main, 
As clouds returning to the north again, 
And there in spotless snow descending down, 
The rugged peaks with virgin beauty crown, 
Waters which southward bathed rich fields of rice, 
Deck the rude north with fairy forms of ice : 
Or once more shoot their pillared shafts on high. 
And pile their masses upwards to the sky, 
Then launch and float as icebergs on the mam. 
And in the south melt down to tepid streams 

again. 
But in whatever form those waters flow. 
Gulf-stream or cloud, dew, rain, or falling snow, 
Iceberg or river, in the south or north, 
They ever and for ever scatter forth, 
Obedient to their ^Maker's gracious plan, 
Ten thousand blessings on His creature ]\Ian. 



THE SEA. 



PART IV. — THE TROPICAL SEA. 



• Ihey that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great 
waters ; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in 
the deep." — Psalm cvii. 23, 24. 

When morning breaks with rush of lustrous hght. 
Flooding with beauty gloriously bright, 
Thy heaving bosom in the Tropic Zone, 
A glory, great and fresh, and all thine own. 
Bursts on the sight, and fills with glad surprise 
The raptured souls of those whose tutored eyes 
Have revelled most in scenes of foreign skies. 
A few scant specks of slight and fleecy cloud, 
Too feebly frail the sun's hot disk to shroud. 
Their gauze-like shadows o'er thy sleeping blue 
Cast in weak patches wide apart and few. 
Some purple mountain in the distance gleams, 
Its lofty summits tipped with glowing beams. 
Its slopes resplendent in the dazzling blaze, 
Or dmily shrouded in the flickering haze. 
Its noble outlme giving to the sight 
A chequered mass of mingled shade and light. 
And oft, like sea-bird's outspread wing of snow, 



Part IJ\—T/ie Tropical Sea. 



J 



Poised o'er the tranquil wave, or moving slow. 
With pearl-white plumage, o'er the placid scene, 
In quest of prey or pastime, may be seen 
A little white-sail'd vessel skimming past. 
With red flag fluttering on her tiny mast, 
Her small hull dipping, working slowly on. 
Till the faint breeze has breathed its last and gone. 
And oft, alas, in contrast strangely sad, 
A moving mass of all that's base and bad. 
Like demon phantom from the world of night, 
A floating hell of horrors pains the sight ; 
The dark ship heaves her long and gleaming sides. 
And, like a living monster, swiftly glides, 
With freight of barter d souls and tortured slaves. 
Through the long roll of thy transparent waves. 
Leaving behind her in her seething wake 
A long thin line of froth and foamy flake. 
Like culprit chased, the guilty vessel flees. 
All canvas spread to catch the faintest breeze, 
Alow, aloft, and on each sweeping side. 
With clouds of sail and crowded wings supplied : 
Her steam-propeller v/ith its throbbing sound 
Breaks the dread silence reigning all around ; 
Like beating pulses of a guilty breast, 
Or pangs of pricking conscience ill at rest : 
She races on with furious speed and fast, 
The soft wind whistling round each raking masr. 
Like blue champagne the water rushing past : 
And if stifl" breezes on her quarter rise, 
Leaps like a race-horse spurr'd, and swifter flie^, 
Heels to the gale, and lifts her starboard side. 
Till hungry waves, with rude and rushing tide, 
c 



34 The Sea. 

Crested with foam, in hissing frantic sport 

Leaping and spouting through each leeward port, 

Angrily threaten with each rolling leap 

In whelming deluge o'er her decks to sweep. 

Like Titan monsters, with unwieldy bulk 

Bruising and crushing her resistless hulk, 

With giant force her starting ribs assail. 

Till all her planks are loose and all her bulwarks 

fail. 
From stem to stern her straining timbers creak. 
Fit music mingling with the piercing shriek, 
The mournful sob, loud sigh, and dismal moan. 
Shrill cry of dark despair and dying groan. 
That rise in discord from the crowded hold. 
Where human fiends, for greed of promised gold, 
Their living freight, a cramp'd and fetter'd load 
Of tortured flesh, have mercilessly stow'd. 
While angry lightnings from the scowling sky, 
Like vengeful glances of that sleepless eye 
No deadly crime could ever yet elude, 
No depths escape, or serpent guile delude. 
Light up the scene, as though with lifted spear. 
With frowning brow, fixed gaze, attentive ear. 
Wings half unfolded, and their lips compress'd, 
Ready and waiting for the high behest. 
Around God's throne avenging angels stand. 
To launch the red bolt from their flaming hand. 
Man preys on man, and wields his stronger arm 
To visit helpless tribes with deadly harm, 
As though God formed and nerved the wise and 

strong 
To do his brother foul and fatal wrong ; 



Part IV. — T/ie Ti^opical Sea 35 

Raised him above the level of his race, 

Gave him in arts and gifts a higher place, 

That he those better gifts might basely use, 

Disgrace his wisdom, and his strength abuse. 

By hunting down, as savage beasts of chase, 

A feebler, harmless, crush' d, and bleeding race. 

God made the strong the weaker to defend. 

His wrongs to right, and all his troubles end, 

His burdens lift, and sink his galling chain 

In deepest depths beneath the rolling main. 

Man takes advantage of his brother's need 

To tempt his untaught soul to deadly deed, 

Urges him basely as a child of hell 

Some feebler man to hunt, entrap, and sell. 

Oh, when that barter'd creature's fearful cry 

Ascends with lightning swiftness to the sky, 

When vengeance sleeps no more, but rushes down 

All deeds of darkness with their doom to crown, 

God's flaming shafts, with burning fury hurl'd, 

Sink low to hell a proud, oppressing world ; 

When thy vast solitudes, O mighty deep, 

Their buried millions shall no longer keep, 

But all w^ho slumber in thy coral caves, 

Fetter'd or free, beneath thy surging waves. 

Shall wake to judgment, then the wretch who 

caught, 
The slave who suffer' d, and the fiend who bought, 
Captor and captive, face to face shall meet 
Before their Judge's great and awful seat. 
In that dread day what damning tongues shall rise 
From thy still depths beneath the torrid skies 
To tell their plain, unvarnish'd tale of wrong, 



36 The Sea, 

Of midnight slaughter, capture, twisted thong, 
Of ravished home, sharp lash, and brutal blow, 
Of childhood's tears and mothers' frantic woe, 
Friends severed, brothers, sisters torn 
Apart, and roughly to the seaboard borne, 
The march of torture to the distant shore. 
Each footstep marked with stain of dropping gore ; 
Driven and goaded in a tether'd herd. 
Like cattle to the shambles lashed and spurred, 
The hasty packing of each fettered frame, 
With rude contempt for ease or decent shame, 
The festered wound, cramped limb, and fevered brain, 
Rank fetid air, scant food, and galling chain. 
Of deaths by twenties in the crowded hold. 
Of naked bodies, in no shroud enrolled. 
Flung o'er the bulwarks of the guilty bark. 
Like worthless offal, to the hungry shark ; 
Or when by British cruiser hotly chased. 
Her speed to quicken and her flight to haste. 
Dropped, like the links of one vast living chain, 
By hundreds headlong in the rolling main : 
What guilty secrets shall be dragged to light. 
Hidden for ages in the darkest night. 
When slaves in myriads quit that tranquil grave. 
Thy sea of glass without one rippling wave. 
And take their stand in one long bright array. 
Like squadrons marshalled at the dawn of day, 
Witness to bear, and put to lasting shame. 
With voice of thunder and with tongue of flame, 
Their white oppressor, whose more cultured mind 
And tutored brain such brutal deeds designed : 
Whose blood-red hand, with weapons doubly strong. 



Part IV. — The Tropical Sea. . 2)1 

Heaped on their heads such floods of fiendish wrong ! 
The sinless trade in Afric's tusks and oil 
Amply repa3^s his utmost care and toil — 
Why will not man his greedy work confine 
To limits marked by stringent laws Divine ? 
Why seek more ample, but unhallowed, gains 
By loading fellows-men with hopeless chains ? 
And if such harmless traffic lack the zest 
With which all lawless dangers feed the breast, 
In thy vast depths w^iere wondrous forms abound 
In teeming plenty, surely may be found 
More fitting objects for exciting chase, 
And hardy perils of the headlong race ; 
Creatures of prey that may be snared and caught 
For honest traffic or in harmless sport. 
May not the white man push his teak-built bark, 
In quest of dolphin or rapacious shark, 
Or sperm whale laden with its costly freight 
Of close-packed treasure of enormous weight — 
Man might be left unharmed or wisely made 
A willing agent in some lawful trade — 
Yes, in thy wastes of sultry calms and storms, 
What splendid types, what variegated forms 
Of animated nature find their home, 
Float on thy waves, or diving, freely roam 
W^ith ghding swiftness through those depths pro- 
found. 
No glance can pierce or plummet ever sound ; 
Sporting in pastime to the surface rise. 
Or wing their pathway through thy torrid skies. 
The Royal Albatross may rightly claim 
The loftv o^randeur of its regal name. 



o 



8 The Sea, 



Rank in the list of ocean-birds as king 
For soaring pride and breadth of spreading wing. 
Look at yon frigate-bird in rapid flight 
Beating his way athwart the dazzhng hght, 
Or poising, hovering o'er the dancing spray, 
With keen eye searching for its finny prey : 
With wide-spread pinion and unruffled breast 
So beautifully balanced and at rest, 
Motionless, fixed, reposing overhead 
In perfect stillness like the sleeping dead ; 
Then quickly roused wdth instincts all astir, 
Darting with rapid rush and plunging whir, 
As some weak flying-fish, with dainty wings. 
From the smooth surface of thy bosom springs, 
Or wheehng swiftly through the yielding air. 
To seize and gorge upon the lion's share, 
In rude and regal disregard of right. 
Compelling fiercely, with a rushing flight. 
The weaker sea-birds to disgorge their prey. 
As feebler vassals of his lordly sway. 
Now mark his motions, as with eagle eye 
He watches keenly from his post on high. 
Over their heads, the fishers at their toil, 
And scans each effort to entrap their spoil. 
See with what patience and unflagging wing. 
He sees them draw, recast, and yet again refling 
Their ample nets with strong and sweeping arm. 
Rippling with eddies the transparent calm ; 
His eager longings and his anxious haste 
The luscious morsels of their prey to taste, 
Betray him never with too early flight. 
Downward to sweep from his aerial height ; 



Part IV. — The Tropical Sea. 39 

No long delays e'er tempt him in despair 

To quit his watchpost in the silent air, 

The sought-for prey, he knows, will yet be found, 

And patient labour with success be crowned. 

He sees the nets sink down with gentle fall, 

The fishers make their last successful haul ; 

Then while the captives in the seamen's grasp 

Flutter for life or wildly pant and gasp, 

And hungry gulls and pelicans have caught 

Some meagre produce of the lengthened sport, 

Seizmg their booty, as it slips and glides. 

In tumbling plenty, by the lowered sides, 

Or round the quarters of the frail canoes 

The hardy seamen of the Tropics use, 

His fierce propensities he quickly shows, 

His savage eye with greedy fury glows ; 

Scarce have his weaker comrades grasped their prey 

Than with the speed of lightning's flashing ray. 

With ruthless violence and rapid rush, 

All vain defence to overawe and crush, 

He dashes downwards on the helpless throng. 

With spreading pinion and with talons strong. 

As rushes down the hurtling storm of hail, 

Or gallant troops the open breach assail. 

With lustful clutch of his rapacious claw. 

To snatch the morsel from his neighbour s maw ; 

Those feebler neighbours, in such battle-field 

Unfit to cope, and glad in peace to yield. 

Their hard-earned booty drop, and wisely seek. 

With flapping wing and wide-distended beak. 

Some other morsel to assuage their grief. 

And give their hunger and their pride relief. 



40 The Sea. 

Most splendid creature, with a breadth of wing 

Fit for the bird-world's lofty-soaring king, 

Lightness of trunk, and forked and slender tail, 

In lengthened beauty spreading to the gale, 

That help to give it such sustaining might, 

For swift rapidity and length of flight, 

That oft while soaring in the cloudless sky 

1 ts figure fades before the gazing eye. 

Yes, far surpassing all descriptive words 

In striking beauty are the tropic birds ; 

Their habits wondrous as their graceful flight. 

Puzzling the student where they pass the night. 

At eve-tide, by the nightwinds gently fanned, 

Sailing far distant from the nearest land, 

Can they repose upon the rolling sea ? 

Or with strong pinion do they swiftly flee. 

Some desert spot of lonely rest to seek. 

Some hermit rock or solitary peak. 

That lifts its scant and needle point on high, 

Unknown to man, unseen by mortal eye ? 

How smooth their gliding through the liquid air. 

Passing like sun-motes through the burning glare, 

Their floating outlines keeping long in view 

Athwart the spreading arch of peerless blue I 

The keenest eye detects no moving stir. 

The sharpest ear no faintly-feeble whir ; 

Their broad-stretched pinions without motion bear 

Their slight-built framework through the buoyant 

air. 
Just now and then the wondrous creatures shake 
With sharp spasmodic start, and briefly break 
Their smooth progression with a sudden jerk. 



Part IV. — The Tropical Sea. 41 

Like slothful craftsmen smartly roused to ^\ork. 
WTien some rude bark or passage-vessel fleet, 
With colours flying and with flowing sheet, 
In the far distance steaming, heaves in sight, 
With social freedom or with cautious flight, 
These graceful birds, in circles, never fail 
Round the white canvas of the friendly sail 
To wheel and hover, till the seamen hail 
Their presence as sure harbinger and sign 
Of welcome nearness to the tropic line. 
The two gay feathers in their flowing tail, 
In lengthened glory floating on the gale, 
Narrow, and straight, and beautifully long, 
Pliant, but Arm. and marvellously strong, 
The South-Sea Islanders employ and prize 
As proud adornments to delight the eyes. 
Or mark as trophies from a kingly bird 
Their chieftain's rank above the common herd. 
The wondrous swallow, whose delicious nest, 
By China's epicures esteemed the best 
Of all the esculents that God bestowed 
Their groaning board in festive time to load. 
With feathered pride may be allowed a claim 
Amongst the sea-birds to enrol his name, 
As chiefly dwelling in the vaulted caves, 
Which sea- winds visit and the billow laves ; 
And from the teeming waters snatching food. 
On which to feast himself and feed his callow brood. 
Along the steep sea-walls that Java boasts^ 
Around its wonderful and fertile coasts, 
Clothed to the brink with woods whose verdure 
green 



42 The Sea. 

Adds silvan beauty to the tropic scene. 

Where screw-pines strike their strong tenacious root 

Deep in the sloping side and upward shoot, 

Gracing the margin of the lofty rock 

In proud defiance of the ocean's shock, 

As giants gazing from their rocky seat 

On billows breaking low beneath their feet ; 

The surf of ages rolling in its strength, 

And fretting, beating ceaselessly, at length. 

By summer's ripple and by wintry seas. 

In imperceptible and slow degrees. 

Has crumbled down, and gnawed, and roughly torn 

The high chalk cliffs, and hammered out and worn 

Deep dark recesses, in whose sheltered side 

The swallow seeks her much-sought home to hide. 

Here, in these sea-washed caves she loves to rest, 

Rear her young brood, and build her dainty nest ; 

Here, when the breezes trouble most the sea 

With movements as the lightning swift and free, 

Vast swarms are seen to quit their cavern home. 

And seek their food amid the thickest foam. 

Though distant from the coast, the tranquil deep 

In peace reposes, and its billows sleep ; 

It never ceases with a fretting roar 

To burst in foam upon the rocky shore. 

There, where the mists in cloudy vapours rise, 

Bright rainbows glisten with resplendent dyes, 

More bright than Iris of our common skies. 

And fling the glories of their brilliant span 

Athwart steep heights unscalable by man. 

While bravely traversing those tropic seas. 

Ten thousand objects which delight and please 



Part IV, — The Tropical Sea, 43 

Break on the seaman's ever-raptured gaze, 
Attract his wonder, and excite his praise. 
Whole shoals of flying-fish in terror start 
Up from the deep, and from its surface dart 
With nervous wing, too narrow frail and slight 
Long to sustain them in aerial flight ; 
But driven wildly, hke a flock of sheep 
Whom wolves chase headlong o'er some craggy 

steep. 
By huge bonitoes who pursue with haste, 
As dainty food their flavour'd flesh to taste ; 
But all the efforts of their flying leap 
To shun the perils of the glassy deep 
Are vain and fruitless, for an active foe 
Awaits their rising from the depths below ; 
Fresh dangers meet them as they trembling dare 
The unknown perils of the warmer air ; 
Soon as their fragile forms appear in sight. 
Feebly suspended in their airy flight. 
Swift as the lightning, ere they plunge and hide 
Beneath the surface of their native tide. 
The keen-eyed frigate-birds head foremost draw 
The writhing victims down their hungry maw. 
On each side threatened, all above, below, 
By fierce sea-monster or by feather d foe. 
The graceful creatures pass their luckless day 
In constant dread of birds and fish of prey. 
The fierce bonito their most dreaded foe. 
Meets lurking perils in the depths below ; 
Not seldom, with an onslaught sharp and fierce 
The well-arm'd sword-fish will his side transpierce 
With pointed lance, with which he oft assails 



44 ^^^^^ Sea. 

With headstrong force the sperm-producing whales, 
And, hke the pristis Avith his saw-hke snout, 
Puts the huge monster to disgraceful rout. 
But, midst the monsters of the tropic seas 
Which yield man profit, terrify or please, 
Dreaded and loathed, the white shark bears the 

palm 
As ocean's curse and minister of harm. 
Woe to the hapless mariner who falls 
From masthead, rigging, or the wooden walls 
Of vessel speeding with no breathing gale, 
Unurged by oar, without one stitch of sail, 
The sea unrippled as a glassy lake, 
These ocean-tyrants prowling in her wake I 
Woe to the luckless and rapacious shark, 
That keeping near such swift-progressing bark, 
Allured by hunger or impelled by fate. 
Seizes in haste the seaman's proffered bait ! 
Woe to the wretch on whose devoted head 
The stored-up vengeance of the crew is shed ! 
That tempting food, like sin's attractive bait, 
Which promised dainty meal and pleasure great, 
Beneath the spread feast harboured all the while. 
Concealed with studied and deceitful guile 
The tempter's hook, with sharp and piercing fangs, 
To fill its victim with convulsive pangs. 
When, drawn on board, and gasping hard for 

breath, 
Doomed to a cruel and protracted death, 
Hacked into pieces by exulting foes, 
Who round their captive with their weapons close. 
Its vast tenacity of ebbing life 



Part IV, — The Tropical Sea. 45 

Prolongs its torments in the useless strife. 
In spite of struggles and tremendous throes, 
Its hardy captors, with their lusty blows. 
Make its gashed trunk with bleeding wounds efface 
The savage crimes of all its guilty race. 
Each bark encounters on the sea's highway 
Vast herds of dolphins sporting in their play : 
But tropic fishes swarm and revel most 
Around and near the undulating coast, 
In vast lagoons, whose shallow^ waters yield 
For sport and pastime safe and ample field ; 
Or sheltered channels with unruffled stream, 
That wind and wander, glide and brightly gleam, 
Bathed in the sunlight of all nature's smiles, 
Threading their pathway through a thousand isles ; 
There, like the humming-birds of brilliant plume, 
Whose flashing colours tropic woods illume, 
As, swift as swallows, through the glaring light, 
From bud to bud they wing their lightning flight ; 
E'en thus amidst the submerged coral groves 
The splendid tribe of balistin^ roves. 
With kindred fish, of gorgeous dye and form, 
Who love smooth waters as they dread the storm : 
There, like some fairy queen's refulgent court. 
They sparkle, glitter, flash, and gaily sport ; 
Their graceful figures mingling with the flowers 
That deck the pavement of those sunken bowers, 
And with their brilliancy and matchless grace 
Crowning the beauty of that wondrous place. 
Belted with azure, red, and burnished gold, 
Glowing with tints too dazzling to behold, 
These wondrous fishes in their beauty blend 



4-6 The Sea. 

Glory of form and colours that transcend 

In lustrous loveliness the force of pen 

Or magic pencil of most gifted men 

To paint correctly, for such fairy trains 

Ne'er passed in splendour through the poet's brains. 

But while these marv^els of the deep defy 

The poet's fancy, and in glory vie 

With all that strikes his cultivated eye 

As brightest, best, most beautiful and fair 

Of all that tenants wave, and earth, and air ; 

Other productions of the tropic seas, 

Like loathsome offspring of the mind's disease, 

In raging madman's fiercely-fevered brains, 

When rank delirium holds the twisted reins ; 

Or spectral forms, with which our fancy teems. 

Grotesquely monstrous in our nightmare dreams. 

Crawl at the bottom of the tropic deep, 

Float in its waves, or m its shallows sleep. 

Such is the frogfish, who, with vaultmg leaps 

Never progresses, but who lamely creeps 

Slowly and halting like a crawHng toad. 

Whose own vile carcase proves a crushing load 

Too cumbrous for his handlike fin to lift, 

Push forward, backward, sideways, turn or shift. 

Fit comrade for this hideous child of night. 

No tail to speed it in its lazy flight. 

The staifish swims like floating bladder vast 

W^ith buoyant ballast to the water cast. 

Or monstrous head dissevered from its trunk, 

Deep in the waves as worthless lumber sunk. 

Transparent fishes, without tail or fin. 

As jelly frail, as thinnest wafer thin. 



Part IV, — The Tropical Sea. 47 

Glide all but viewless through the glassy wave 

In placid current or in coral cave; 

While swoj'dtails^ with a double case of shi^d 

And horny tails, that pointed arrows yield 

The hunting war-tribes of the fierce Malays, 

To head their spear for sport or mortal frays. 

Like men-at-arms equipped in coated mail, 

Fearless and freely through the water's sail. 

Molluscs are scattered with a lavish hand 

Through every tropic sea, on every tropic strand, 

In vast profusion, as a locust host. 

Of countless plenty on each coral coast. 

There, also, fish of giant strength are found, 

Whose lengthened process twisted firmly round 

Some hapless fisher in his bark afloat. 

Can drag him headlong from his fragile boat ; 

Cephalopodse, whose strong tendons vie 

In strength and thickness with the human thigh. 

There, too, the vast tridacna may be found 

Clinging with fondness to his chosen ground ; 

A Titan fish, whose massive valves comprise 

A breadth of measure of colossal size 

Five feet across, and in their monstrous womb 

Like barrack larder's well-provisioned room. 

Bearing as inmate the enormous load 

Of twice two hundred pounds securely stowed. 

The splendid shells with deeply-hollowed curve 

Are forced by man a twofold end to serve ; 

In South-Sea Islands to collect the rain 

And useful stores of flowing floods retain ; 

In Rome's cathedrals to contain a store 

Of useless water at the entrance door. 



48 The Sea, 

And scattered through the warmer waters dwell, 
With varied tint and form of outer shell, 
A host of volutes, harps, and sparkling cones, 
Unknown to higher and more frigid zones, 
In figure lovely, exquisitely rare : 
In colour peerless, delicately fair : 
And there, from depths profound, the divers lift 
The ocean's purest and most costly gifi ; 
In various portions of the Indian main, 
And vast Pacific's widely-spread domain. 
The Oriental pearl, pure, white, and round. 
Fairest of gems and precious stones, is found. 
The tribe cA jelly-fish in varied hosts 
Disport themselves around the tropic coasts, 
In colour brilliant as the tints that dye 
The sunlit glories of the Eastern sky ; 
In form fantastic, but of wondrous grace ; 
Some frilled with network of transparent lace ; 
Some bell-shaped like a floating liquid dome, 
Through calmly tepid waters gently roam ; 
Some like a mushroom to the surface spring, 
Others like fairy belt or girdlmg ring ; 
Some globular, some circular and shm, 
Some like a bunch of clustered berries swim. 
The green velella, with its fairy dyes. 
As sweetly dehcate as Eden's skies, 
With purple tentacles superbly dressed. 
Transparent body and pellucid crest, 
Transcends in beauty of its softened tones 
The finest products of all other zones. 
Surpassed, however, in its gorgeous pride, 
When sailing nobly on the swelling tide, 



Pa7'f IV. — The Tropical Sea. 49 

By that most splendid of created things, 
The princely nautilus^ of ocean's kings 
The peerless empress, grander in its size, 
With brilliant comb, where azure of the skies, 
With purple tints and pink of every shade. 
Blend in rich harmony, and melt and fade 
With softened lustre or with glowing beam. 
As blending colours of the rainbow gleam. 
The greatest marvels of the tropic deep 
Are countless reefs and coral isles that sleep 
Like gems of beauty in their tranquil rest. 
Reposing softly on its jewelled breast. 
Wonderful structures ! reared by insect swarms, 
Who labour deep beneath the reach of storms : 
Commence their building on the rocky floor. 
And lift their miles of bulwark round the shore ; 
Colossal fabrics of enormous length, 
Broad-belted terraces of massive strength, 
Fringing the land and forming harbours wide, 
In which the whole world's fleets might safely ride; 
Rising at times far distant from the land. 
Girdling the ocean with a circling band. 
Like bridal rings of monstrous strength and size, 
Dropped on the surface from the glowing skies. 
All is amazing in these coral isles ; 
Their huge circumference of countless miles, 
The vast lagoons or ocean-lakes that sleep 
Like placid pools within the foaming deep. 
Belted and bulwarked by the circling zone 
Of slow-compacted, firm, and massive stone. 
The strength with which the puny insects' home 
Repels with ease the strongest billow's foam, 

D 



50 The Sea, 

The tangled mass of plants and vital seeds 

That, drifting idly with the ocean's weeds, 

Rest on the sea-wall of the new-built pile, 

And swiftly change it to a coral isle. 

Clothing with grace their quiet place of rest. 

Crowning its circle with a verdant crest. 

There the tall figure of the graceful palm 

Fringes the framework of the mward calm ; 

For man's advantage admirably made 

To yield him double boon of fruit and shade ; 

Fit food he gathers from its waving crest. 

And finds, when wearily he sinks to rest 

In calm unbroken slumber at its feet, 

A grateful shadow from the scorching heat. 

Its feathered branches rocking in the breeze, 

Emblems of triumph over stormy seas, 

Appear to those who peaceful shelter crave 

A welcome warm with friendly arms to wave. 

And lure the seaman to repose and ease 

In these fair gardens of the tropic seas. 

And wandering sea-birds, who as pilgrims roam, 

Searching the ocean for a quiet home. 

Like the lone dove whose weary pinions found 

No fitting resting-place or solid ground. 

Scanning with painful and extended flight 

The waste of waters, wearily alight, 

With toil-worn plumage, on these isles that sleep 

As arks of shelter on their parent deep. 



THE SEA. 



PART V. — CONCLUSION. 



" The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have 
pleasure therein." — Psalm cxi, 2. 

Most wondrous Sea ! in endless wisdom planned, 

Stamped with the signet of thy Maker's hand ; 

Thy desert waters in their vast extent, 

By His control within due limits pent, 

Girdled with belt of strand and solid rock, 

Fit to repel high tide or stormy shock ; 

What teeming marvels through thy wide domain, 

Where light or darkness, calm or tempest, reign. 

With lavish prodigality are spread, 

Swarm in thy depths, and sparkle overhead. 

Float on thy surface, grace thy boundless shores, 

Fill thy deep caves, or deck thy shining floors ! 

Thy grand old features from remotest time 

Have filled man's heart with ecstasy sublime : 

Enriched his thoughts, his deathless soul refined, 

And Godward pointed his adoring mind. 

In Arctic, Torrid, and in every zone. 

Garnished and crowned with glories of thine own ; 



52 The Sea, 

Reflecting on thy vast and liquid breast, 
Sunrise and sunset in the east and west, 
Sleeping in cloud-shade, or in starry light. 
Or silver moonbeams in the stilly night. 
Covered with gorgeous canopy of robes. 
Studded and spangled with resplendent globes. 
Winter and summer, spring and autumn, yield 
Their varied splendours to thy ample held ; 
Thy noble scenes as winter rude and w ild. 
As spring-time balmy, and as summer mild ; 
While fishers through an endless autumn reap 
Enormous harvests from thy swarming deep. 
Most peerless Sea ! whose presence felt and known 
Pervades each hemisphere and belted zone ; 
Skirting soft soils where myrtles kiss the wave. 
And granite shores which giant causeways pave ; 
Lands fair as Paradise, where living green 
With velvet mantle decks the fairy scene ; 
And craggy coasts, where dismal horrors dwell, 
Dark and repulsive as the gates of hell ; 
Producing from thy womb a boundless store 
Of food for man of every clime and shore, 
A thousand dishes of substantial fare, ' 

Nutritious esculents and dainties rare ; 
And yet thy waves rapacious tyrants breed, 
Whose guilty tribes on human victims feed. 
Thy shells cast forth by every tide and storm, 
Of brilliant colour and of graceful form, 
In splendour vie with birds of richest plume. 
Bright summer flowers, and fruits of softest bloom ; 
While humble tenants of thy waters bear 
Gems of soft beauty to adorn the fair; 



Part ]\ — Conclusion. 53 

And yet within thy depths foul monsters work. 
And loathsome objects creep, and deadly dangers 

lurk. 
World-famous bards their noblest harps have strung, 
And lofty paeans in thy favour sung, 
Have made the treasures of thy vast domain 
The fitting objects of their sweetest strain ; 
Amid thy depths and desert wastes have found 
A theme for melodies of richest sound, 
And taught their muse in many a lovely lay 
Thy varied scenes and wondrous forms display : 
And skilful painters have enriched our walls, 
Our private dwellings, and our public halls, 
With scenes of beauty from thy hea^^ng breast : 
Thy raging billows or thy waves at rest. 
Thy coral islands and thy vaulted caves. 
And rocky headlands lashed by leaping waves : 
The verdant woods that crown thy lofty heights, 
The moonlit softness of thy summer nights. 
The awful grandeur of thine Arctic forms, 
The gloom and terror of thy wintiy storms, 
The snow-froih fringing sunny creeks and bays. 
The warning foam that surging breakers raise, 
Wide reefs with wrecks and shattered fragments 

strewn, 
As splintered timber in the forest hewn : 
Soft balmy scenes, where all things seem to sleep 
In dreamy stillness on the tranquil deep : 
Harbours of refuge, free and friendly ports : 
Rough battlemented cliffs, with massive forts 
Bristling ^^^th cannon in the front and rear, 
Wide-gaping monsters, marshalled tier on tier. 



54 The Sea. 

Frowning defiance, as about to break 
The death-like silence, and with wTath awake 
A thousand echoes with their thunder roar ; 
And hurtling hail and flaming lightnings pour 
On hostile fleet or rash intruder strange, 
That dares to float within their distant range : 
And peaceful glimpse of ever-tranquil shore, 
Where trumpet peal or cannon's angry roar 
The still soft silence never rudely stirred, 
War-cry or dying groan were never heard. 
On whose green slopes, unpressed by martial tread, 
No smitten foeman fell, no prostrate hero bled. 
A thousand artists trained to limn and trace 
The world's fair landscapes with the richest grace, 
A thousand poets with their pens of fire, 
And skilled musicians with their softest lyre, 
Have paid their tribute to thy grace divine, 
And laid their products on thy lofty shrine ; 
And after all their proud attempts to sketch 
Thy fairest forms of beauty, and to fetch 
Their inspiration from the ample hoard 
Of matchless glories in thy bosom stored, 
Their brightest gems have failed, and only seem 
To shadow forth some faint and feeble gleam 
Of vaster glories that defy the pen, 
And shame the skill of wisest, ablest men. 
The noblest painters' best productions trace 
But scanty outlines of thy peerless grace, 
And sweetest poets in their brilliant verse 
But meagre fragments of thy charms rehearse. 
Well may thy breast, O sea, with swelling tide, 
With loudest thunders, and with lofty pride. 



Part V. — Coiichcsion. 55 

Heave with fond triumph, when thy sounding praise 
Feeds the best poets' best and noblest lays ; 
And gifted painters of the highest name 
Have wrought their best to spread thy lasting fame: 
But, nobler still, whose scenes with glowing pen, 
High-gifted prophets, seers, and holy men. 
Have traced with rapture on that wondrous page 
The guide of childhood and the staff of age, 
By God inspired, who formed thy flowing waves. 
Thy teeming treasures, and thy coral caves. 
Thy waters hold within their cold embrace, 
Concealed from man, in many a lonely place, 
Sacred deposits, waitmg but the dawn 
That bids them hail the resurrection morn. 
The sleeping relics of the honoured dead. 
Heroes renowned, whose blood in battle shed, 
Commingled freely with the peaceful waves 
That moaned a requiem o'er their quiet graves ; 
And nobler still than mighty heroes' dust 
Consigned as treasure to thy breachless trust, 
Martyrs have found beneath thy yielding wave 
Their quiet resting-place and hallowed grave, 
While thousands of their fellow-Christians sleep 
In calm repose below thy stormy deep. 
But grandest still of all the honours paid. 
And lofty tributes on thine altar laid. 
The honour done thee by the God who made 
Thy boundless waters, when the voice that spoke, 
And teeming worlds to conscious life awoke. 
Forced thy rude tumult His command to hear, 
And hushed thy billows in their mad career ; 
Made thee the subject of His wondrous might, 



56 The Sea, 

Opened thy waters as a path for flight, 
And snatched triumphantly His chosen seed 
From hopeless terror in their sorest need ; 
Like pent-up waters of some giant skiice, 
With sudden deluge in their might let loose, 
Unbound thy waves, and bade their torrents flow 
In angry vengeance on His haughty foe : 
Put forth the power Omnipotence can wield 
To make thy depths their living treasures yield, 
To fill the nets in faith cast once again. 
Though spread all night with patient toil in vain ; 
To bless His servants with an ample store 
Those lowly men had never known before, 
Prove His true Godhead to the chosen few, 
Pay the tax asked, though never justly due, 
And make scant products of thy waters feed 
The famished thousands in their starving need. 
And when those feet that walked our fallen earth 
To scatter good, and change its grief to mirth, 
Walking thy surface as a grassy plain, 
Made thy rough waves His sacred form sustain. 
The noblest jewel in thy crown of fame. 
That God Incarnate's worn and weary frame 
Was lulled to slumber on thy heaving breast. 
His sacred footprints on thy surface pressed, 
His wisdom stooped from thy smooth waves to 

preach 
To thousands gathered on thy pebbly beach ; 
His mercy deigned His wonders to perform 
Amid thy scenes of varied calm and storm. 
And after death, when risen from the grave, 
The loved Redeemer, near thy flowing wave. 



Part I ". — Conclusion. 



D/ 



Revealed His scarred but now immortal frame, 
Ere quitting earth His promised throne to claim : 
Walked on the margin of thy rippling side, 
Heard the soft murmur of thy gentle tide ; 
Saw thy blue waters peacefully at rest, 
And sunrise kindling on thy gleaming breast. 
And on thy shining shore, with welcome voice, 
Cheered His loved friends, and made their hearts 

rejoice, 
Fed on the products of thy fruitful deep, 
And gave His last commandment, "' Feed my sheep;* 
Thrice-honoured Sea! thy scenes and heaving breast 
For all mankind are sanctified and blessed, 
Linked with the Gospel of a Saviours grace. 
Wherever preached, in every age and place, 
Stamped with the signet of that boundless love 
And mighty prowess which He wields above, 
And, bidding man, with never-dying voice 
To trust in Christ and in His love rejoice, 
While loud and clear thy rolling waves proclaim 
The dving Saviour and our risen Lord the same. 



THE HAPPY FAMILY. 



' Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell 
together in unity." — Psalm cxxxiii. 1. 

I. 

Ah ! who can tell what blessings dwell 

In fullest, richest measure, 
And brimming joy without alloy. 

In broadest tide of pleasure. 
In that dear place where gifts of grace 

Descending from above. 
Strike deep their root and bear their fruit 

In unity and love ? 

II. 

Where home is bright with living light 

From concord's smiling sun. 
Whose sacred beams and golden gleams 

All spirits blend in one ; 
Where all in harmony combine 

With love's unselfish arts, 
And like the vine their tendrils twine 

Around each other's hearts. 



The Happy Family. 59 



III. 

An honoured pair whose pious care 

Has formed a home of love, 
Which being such resembles much 

Their better home above. 
Where he who reigns, with love maintains 

His ever gentle sway, 
And all with fleet and willing feet 

His slightest wish obey. 

IV. 

Where she who shares his joys and cares, 

With fond endearment strives 
To weave in one the threads that run 

Through both their blended lives. 
Where both preside and wisely guide 

Their children's footsteps right, 
With prayer and praise in God's own ways, 

To walk by Wisdom's light. 

V. 

And hand in hand, a joyous band. 

The children aye together. 
All dangers dare and sunshine share, 

And stormy tempests weather ; 
Unite their cares and join their prayers. 

And blend their loud thanksgiving. 
With one large heart their goods impart 
As those who know to God they owe 

A life of warm thanksliving. 



6o The Happy Family, 



VI. 

I knew of one whose race was run, 

And battle bravely fought, 
With single eye, that from the sky 

Its guerdon only sought ; 
Who wisely took God's sacred Book, 

His heart and hfe to leaven, 
His guiding light by day and night, 

To lead his soul to heaven. 

VII. 

What though his name, unknown to fame, 

Is in no peerage found. 
Nor sleeves of lawn those arms adorn, 

That scattered blessings round ; 
No earthly court his presence sought. 

Nor gave him mitred throne. 
His brow shall shine with crown divine 

From God and God alone. 

VIII. 

With growing light shall sparkle bright 

That star-becircled crown. 
When earthly thrones, 'mid blood an4 
groans. 

Have sunk for ever down. 
Earth's cisterns fail, earth's splendours pale, 

And earthly crowns decay. 
But his shall shine with light divine 

Through one long endless day. 



The Happy Family. 6 1 



IX. 

The words he taught, the deeds he wrought, 

The ahns he gave away, 
The ills he braved, the souls he saved 

From error's blinding ray ; 
The tears he wept while others slept, 

Each prayerful groan and sigh, 
If not by men, with lasting pen. 

Are redstered on hio-h. 



X. 

A faithful preacher, not a creature 

To shuffle, trim, and halt, 
But firmly, gravely, nobly, bravely, 

Denounce each rampant fault : 
His shafts of wit each folly hit 

With never-missing aim, 
While actions mean and deeds unclean 

Were put to lasting shame. 



XI. 

Right apt to teach he loved to preach 

The Saviour's love to souls, 
The stream of grace to bless our race, 

Which like a river rolls, 
Broad, deep, and free, as shoreless sea. 

Or breezy, balmy air, 
Unbought, unchained, but simply gained 

By dint of earnest prayer. 



62 The Happy Family, 



XII. 

With anxious thought and care he sought 

The penitent to guide, 
Who wept apart with broken heart, 

To Christ the crucified. 
Whose blood was spilt to cleanse from guilt, 

And raise us to the sky. 
And pardon wins for blackest sins 

And crimes of crimson dve : 



XIII. 

And bid him clasp with nervous grasp 

The proffered arm of might, 
Which saves the soul and makes it whole, 

And scatters all its night ; 
And then rejoice with grateful voice 

In Him who loves to bless. 
Whose smiles dispel the mists of hell, 

''The Sun of Righteousness." 



XIV. 

He loved with care from hurtful snare 

To guard unheeding youth, 
With glowing tongue to teach the young 

To choose the ways of truth ; 
With gentle rein to guide and train 

The infant's halting feet. 
Or catch with smile and winning guile 

The Arab of the street ; 



The Happy Family. 63 



XV. 

To screen from blame and shield from shame 

The weeping child of sin, 
Whose broken sighs the world despise, 

And never care to win ; 
With spirit meek and guarded seek 

The fallen to restore. 
From prying eyes and slander's lies 

Their frailties cover o'er. 



XVI. 

Whene'er he saw God's righteous law 

The prodigal alarm. 
And bitter tears, produced by fears, 

The world could never calm. 
With skilful art and yearning heart 

He caught the sinner's arm. 
On ruin's brink, about to sink. 
And stay'd his grief by swift relief 

Of mercy's healing balm. 

XVII. 

Full well he knew that not a few 

Accused of deepest crime. 
Were men untrained and unrestrain'd 

In childhood's plastic time ; 
That ill was wrought by want of thought 

In strong temptation's hour. 
Only in part from want of heart. 

Or wanton mischiefs power ; 



64 The Happy Family. 



XVIII. 

That many a wild but noble child, 

From want of early culture, 
With spirits high and eagle eye, 

Had grown a preying vulture ; 
That deadly deeds, like rankest weeds. 

Oft spring from richest soil. 
By plough untilled, by wheat unfill'd, 

But grudged the slightest toil. 

XIX. 

When youth are thrown, unwatched, 
alone, 

Where sin's strong current rolls. 
Where devils work and dangers lurk 

To snare unheeding souls. 
Pollution stains and vice enchains 

With fetters none can sever. 
The devils reap while angels weep, 

And souls are lost for ever. 

XX. 

By sheer neglect ignobly wrecked 

Where billows overwhelm, 
'Mid sunken rocks and tempest shocks 

Without a guiding helm ; 
Like vessel left, of chart bereft. 

To make its helmless way, 
With freight of gold and wealth untold. 

Through seas of foaming spray. 



The Happy Family. 65 



XXI. 

At death-bed side a faithful guide, 

With meekness bending low 
That silvered head where time had spread 

Its pearl-white crown of snow ; 
He pointed high the dying eye 

To Canaan's open portal, 
The blood-stained door and shining shore 

That bound the life immortal. 

XXII. 

With hearty aid he toiled and prayed 

For every arm of love 
That nobly wrought and wisely sought 

Its wisdom from above ; 
Those godly bands of working hands, 

The bulwarks of its strength, 
That cover o'er our native shore, 

In all its breadth and length ; 

XXIII. 

Which seek to dry each weeping eye. 

Each throbbing heart console ; 
To soothe to rest each aching breast. 

And win each straying soul ; 
Or stretch their hands to distant lands, 

To cheer their night of gloom 
With Gospel light, whose splendour bright 

The darkest souls illume : 

E 



66 The Happy Family, 



XXIV. 

Who send the message of the cross, 

Like morn's reviving dew, 
Waste lands and stormy seas across 

By faithful men and true, 
Whose herald feet are widely found 

With mercy's flag unfurled, 
And silver trumpet's pealing sound 

Throughout a dying world : 

XXV. 

Who never grieve their homes to leave, 

For heat or lasting snows ; 
And bravely dare the cross to bear 

Amidst its deadly foes ; 
Their weapons wield in mission field, 

Against infernal powers ; 
And armed in mail Divine, assail 

The devil's strongest towers. 

XXVI. 

For Israel's seed he loved to plead, 

A people hated long. 
As outcasts wild traduced, reviled, 

In jest and drunken song ; 
For ages cursed, despised, dispersed. 

By every hand oppressed ; 
Afar from home compelled to roam. 

And find no quiet rest. 



The Happy Family. 67 



XXVIL 

And yet the tribes of Adam's race 

More favoured than the rest, 
Whose names engraven deeply, grace 

The Saviour's jewelled breast. 
To whom of old, by seer unrolled, 

The word of God was given, 
From whom there came His mortal frame. 

Whose side for sin was riven. 



XXVIII. 

And in whose line of heroes shine 

Apostles, prophets, kings. 
Whose every name of matchless fame 

A blaze of glory flings 
O'er every page, in every age. 

Throughout the chequered scroll, 
As monarch, priest, or martyred sage. 

In long unbroken roll. 

XXIX. 

And yet to be restored and free. 

With Judah's flag unfurled, 
A nation owned and high enthroned 

Above a prostrate world. 
A glorious morn, with brilliant dawn, 

Shall wake her from the ground ; 
Her sorrows cease in lasting peace, 

While joy and praise abound. 



68 The Happy Family, 



XXX. 

Among the nations of the earth, 

The lowest in her fall 
Shall then receive a second birth, 

And rank above them all ; 
No longer cursed shall be the first 

In earth's last brightest story, 
Whom all the rest shall own as best, 

And love to crown with glory. 

XXXI. 

Their fetters riven, their sins forgiven, 

And hearts with rapture glowing, 
Her ransomed bands shall till their lands, 

With milk and honey flowing ; 
With manly toil shall make her soil 

From vine and olive yield 
Abundant stores of wine and oil 

From every cultured field. 

XXXII. 

And purged from guilt, her walls rebuilt, 

Her fane with glory crowned. 
While through her courts and chief resorts 

The notes of praise resound. 
Shall Salem shine with light Divine, 

Jerusalem retaken, 
To bliss restored by Christ her Lord, 

*' A citv not forsaken." 



The Happy Family. 69 



XXXIII. 

He loved to gaze on coming days, 

When Christ, in heaven adored, 
Should claim and own the wide world's throne. 

Her one, her only Lord ; 
When all should sing, " The Lord is King," 

And Satan's empire cease. 
The Victim slain as Victor reign 

Triumphant Prince of peace. 

XXXIV. 

The golden age in prophet's page 

In glowing terms revealed, 
When, freed from dearth, the wide-spread earth, 

Shall teeming harvests yield. 
No sword or spear shall then appear, 

No banner be unfurled. 
But wars shall cease, and lasting peace 

Pervade a smiling world. 

XXXV. 

No martial host invade the coast 

Of peaceful neighbour lands. 
On spoil intent, on conquest bent, 

With overwhelming bands ; 
And then enrol on blazoned scroll 

The foul and fiendish story. 
So full of base and black disgrace, 

As deed of brightest glory. 



70 The Happy Family, 



XXXVI. 

Each warlike band shall till the land, 

And bid its fruits increase, 
Their weapons burn, or wisely turn 

To implements of peace ; 
The sickle wield to reap the field, 

Or prune the spreading vine. 
And make the soil by peaceful toil 

O'erflow with milk and wine. 



XXXVII. 

Thrice happy time I when guilt and crime 

Shall curse the earth no more, 
But sweet repose from war's sad woes 

Shall visit every shore ; 
When stalwart arms, 'mid war's alarms, 

And trumpet's martial sound. 
With bloody dew no more shall strew, 

But till, the fruitful ground. 



XXXVIIT. 

When, robed in might and dazzling light, 

The Saviour shall descend 
To take His throne and reign alone, 

And Satan's triumphs end ; 
Lands far and wide on every side 

With loud hosannas ring, 
And princes throng with raptured song 

To hail the world's great King. 



The Happy Family. 



XXXIX. 

Where orphans wept whose parents 
slept 

The last long sleep of death. 
Their children pressing, kissing, blessing 

With their last dying breath — 
Was there no eye those tears to spy 

Fast dropping on the grave. 
No willing ear those sobs to hear 

That help and pity crave ? 

XL. 

No hand to dry each weeping eye. 

Xo strong protecting arm 
With kindly art the orphan's heart 

To heal with soothing balm ? 
Yes, orphans' cries and widows" sighs 

Awoke His loving heart 
To wipe their tears, dismiss their fears. 

And act a Father's part. 

XLI. 

With busy hand and head that planned 

The swiftest help to bring, 
He often made with timely aid 

The widow's heart to sing. 
His open door to rich or poor 

A heart's warm welcome offered, 
To all, indeed, in want or need 

A kindly shelter profiered. 



The Happy Family, 



XLII. 
When raging pest filled every breast 

With terror and dismay, 
And, spite of care, the young and fair 

Were fading fast away ; 
W^hen vigour shrunk and manhood sunk 

Beneath the fatal blow, 
Or fever's breath with shafts of death, 
That wing their flight in stilly night, 

Had laid its thousands low : 

XLIII. 
Without alarm or fear of harm 

From rank contagion's breath. 
This man of God then bravely trod 

The pathway strewn with death ; 
For death's dark wing would harmless fling 

Its shade across his way, 
Who perilled all, at duty's call, 

With dying men to pray. 

XLIV. 
When basely stung by slander's tongue, 

And wantonly belied, 
His spirit ruled, his temper schooled, 

He graciously replied, — 
" Curses and lies are injuries 

To him from whom they come. 
For cursing words, like strong-winged birds, 

Return to roost at home. 



The Happy Family. 



XLV. 
'"' Words that defame oft miss their aim, 

And rouse the good man's Friend ; 
God will reverse the causeless curse, 

And slandered saints defend. 
Shall I complain, when slander's breath 

Its vilest venom poured 
On Christ, when falsely doomed to death, 

Whom seraph hosts adored ?" 

XLvr. 
In sore affliction's heated fires 

He glorified his God, 
And torn by trial's thorny briers, 

He called tlie smiting rod 
A Father's scourge his soul to purge 

From sin's defiling sway. 
And death's fell shafts but bitter draughts 

To cleanse his dross away. 

XLVII. 
Without one fear or faithless tear. 

Distrustful groan or sigh. 
His lowly soul w^ould take the whole 

As coming from on high ; 
His faith could own that from the 
throne 

His wise Physician's hand 
Gave even these as love's decrees 

By perfect wisdom planned. 



74 The Happy Fafnily. 



XLVIII. 

With lifted dart death struck his heart 

A doubly fatal blow, 
And at his side, with rapid stride, 

Laid son and daughter low, 
Like sturdy oaks beneath the strokes 

Of woodman's ringing axe. 
Or shattered pine and elm that line 

The tempest's lightning tracks. 

XLIX. 

Like pliant reed or ocean's weed 

That yield beneath the prow, 
Or grassy blades in forest glades 

Before the zephyrs bow ; 
He meekly bowed beneath the cloud, 

And saw athwart the tomb 
Fair mercy's bow above, below. 

Broad-spanning all the gloom. 

L. 
His soul could brave the open grave, 

And terror's ruthless king; 
His Captain's blow had smitten low, 

And robbed them of their sting. 
Death brought him gain, for sin and pain 

Again should wound him never ; 
It bade him rise to brighter skies. 
Supremely blest in endless rest, 

To rei^n with Christ for ever. 



The Happy Family. 



Ll. 

To him the tomb was but a room 

In which the body sleeps. 
While Gods own eye unsleepingly 

Its faithful vigil keeps 
A few short years, till Christ appears 

To call the sleeping clay 
To quit its rest, with glory drest. 

And wake to endless day. 

LTI. 

His \*i5ion clear, undimmed by tear. 

Across death's gloomy vale 
Saw mansions rise in cloudless skies 

And joys that never fail : 
Bright hills of light with splendour 
bright 

Where saints in glory reign. 
By peaceful side of streams that glide 

Through Eden's fair domain. 

LIU. 

With ardour fired, his soul aspired 

On faith's swift feet to haste. 
Those homes of bliss to claim as his, 

Those living fruits to taste, 
That place to gain where seraphs reign 

On sapphire thrones oi light. 
And ever shine, with love Divine. 

On Zions sacred height. 



76 The Happy Family, 



LIV. 
Assisting ever, thwarting never, 

His faithful partner stood. 
His strong support, who only sought 

To aid his deeds of good ; 
With arts endearing, soothing, cheering, 

And ready, hand to hand. 
With all her heart to take her part 

In every work he planned. 

LV. 

No time misused, no trust abused. 

No talent misapplied. 
His years flew past as smooth and fast 

As river's rapid tide, 
So peacefully dispersing wide 
Their daily gifts on every side ; 

And, like the circling sun. 
With life declining, brighter shining. 

Till all his work was done. 

LVI. 

Yes, all his days God's wondrous ways 

Of love to fallen man 
He loved to trace in streams of grace 

From mercy's saving plan. 
He led the way to realms of day, 

And then, without a sigh. 
With his last breath he taught in death 

How rii^hteous men can die. 



The Happy Family. jj 



LVII. 

His children led by such a head, 

His footprints loved to trace ; 
And side by side with vigour tried 

Like him to grow in grace. 
They shared together changing weather, 

Storms, and wintry skies ; 
And all they bore but bound them more 

In closer, deeper ties. 

LVIII. 

One heart, one soul transfused the whole, 

And knit them each to other. 
Like silken chain of jewelled grain, 

Or brother linked with brother. 
The snow-white dove of Godlike love 

Had found its fitting rest, 
With folded wing to reign as king 

In each contented breast. 



LIX. 

An angry word was never heard 

Throughout the live-long day ; 
The deep repose was never stirred 

By passion's lawless play. 
By temper sour, or browns that lower 

With thunder-clouds of gloom. 
Or flashing eyes, where murder hes 

And deeds of darkness loom ; 



78 The Happy Family, 



LX. 

By look askance, or angry glance, 

Or bitter biting words, 
That scathe and burn enough to turn 

The sweetest blood to curds ; 
By savage jeer, or caustic sneer, 

Or sharp and smart sarcasms, 
Or piquant strokes of brutal jokes, 

That sting like cataplasms : 

LXI. 

But words of grace from smiling face, 

With sweetest, gentlest sound. 
That much increase the love and peace 

And joy of all around. 
One golden chain the whole contain. 

Like richest wreath unblighted. 
Where full-blown rose and buds repose 

In harmony united. 

LXII. 

Their only thought to give unsought 

To all about them pleasure, 
And daily add, to make them glad, 

Their own heart's mirthful treasure. 
Unruffled calm, like dewy balm. 

On Hermon's hallowed crest. 
Or unction shed on Aaron's head, 

Pervaded every breast. 



The Happy Family, 79 



LXIII. 
The little girls, with waving curls 

Of flowing auburn hair, 
And ruby lips the rose eclipse, 

And lily's perfume share ; 
With dimpled charm of rounded arm, 

And laughing sunny eyes. 
Whose sapphire sphere shone bright and clear 

As azure of the skies ; 

LXIV. 

With frolics gay and glees ome play 

On restless fair}^ feet. 
Races running, dancing, funning. 

Their brimming joy complete ; 
While skips and hops in verdant 
copse, 

And childhood's merry freaks. 
In healthful breeze among the trees, 

With roses flush their cheeks ; 

LXV. 

Pass joyous hours amid the flow^ers. 

Laughing, joking, singing. 
With merry lays of jocund praise 

Through copse and valley ringing ; 
In woodland scene, with verdure green, 

Replete with forest charms, 
And cozy glades which Nature shades 

And guards from rude alarms. 



8o The Happy Family, 



Lxvr. 
The elder boys, with ringing noise, 

Or music's pleasing sound. 
With dulcet lute, or sounding flute, 

Awake the echoes round ; 
While thrilling notes from warbling throats, 

Come swelling on the breeze, 
And murmurs soft are heard aloft 

From gently-waving trees. 

LXVII. 

Sweet peace and praise fulfil the days 

Like Paradise above, 
Where sunny fruits from sweetest roots, 
And fragrant bowers of fairest flow^ers, 

Compose a home of love. 
An easy night of slumbers light, 

With healing balm succeeds 
The cheerful day of mirthful play. 

Or mercy's active deeds. 

LXVITI. 

All soft and slowly, sweet and holy, 

Rose their matin psalm ; 
And night-winds bear their words of prayer 

On eve's prevailing calm. 
With one glad heart they take their part 

In services Divine, 
Together raise their notes of praise 

In God's all-hallowed shrine. 



The Happy Family. 81 



LXIX. 

Xo earthly cares disturbed their pra}-ers, 

Xo wanderings of thought ; 
With hallowed mind their joy they find 

In God's own sacred court. 
Most rich enjoyments, sweet employments 

Filled their Sabbath-days 
With joyous beams and glowmg gleams 

From worlds of endless praise. 

LXX. 

Xo jest unclean, or tale obscene, 
Their spotless lips profaned, 

Like muddy stream, or putrid steam 
From stagnant mire, with fever* s tire 

And rank corruption stained,) 
But pure and white, and clean as light. 

Transparent as the day, 
Or streams that flow from virgin snow, 

With sparkling crystal play. 

LXXI. 

Xo reckless jest, with festering pest. 

To wound the tender heart. 
And make, without a care or thought, 

Its finest tendrils smart ; 
Xo verjuice drops of acrid gall, 

Xo scathing, scalding jeer ; 
Xo snarling tone, or grumbling groan, 

Assail the wounded ear : 
F 



82 The Happy Family. 



LXXil. 

No adder fangs to fill with pangs 

The feelings of the breast ; 
No venomed dart to pierce the heart, 

When tortured and oppressed. 
No magpie jangling, strife or wrangling, 

Teasing cruel sport, 
Hard names caUing, scolding, brawling. 

Biting keen retort. 

LXXIIT. 
No burly bluster, tinsel lustre, 

Or meretricious varnish ; 
No tawdry gloss, or verbal dross. 

Their conversation tarnish. 
Their yea was yea, their nay was nay, 

A bond their naked word ; 
Their promise passed was firm and 
fast, 

Nor once belied or blurred. 

LXXIV. 

No curse profaned, or falsehood stained, 

Those lips of sterling truth ; 
No serpent guile, with mocking smile, 

Deformed their virgin youth. 
Their spotless life unstained with strife. 

Flowed peacefully along. 
As sunlit waves in crystal caves, 

With soft unbroken son^. 



The Happy Family. 83 



LXXV. 

Their books well worn, but never torn. 

Or soiled with hlthy stains, 
Of study told more prized than gold. 

And amply-cultured brains. 
The head informed, the heart reformed. 

The life and temper sweetened : 
The deathless soul, by grace made whole. 

For heavens glory meetened. 

LXXVI. 

Taught from their birth the priceless worth 

Of God's most precious Word, 
Its slightest voice of whispered joys 

Their inmost spirit stirred. 
They pondered it carefully, read it most 
prayerfully, 

Revelled in all its parts : 
Their sweetest pleasure, as costly treasure. 

To hide it withm their hearts. 

LXXVII. 

From childhood taught, by guile uncaught. 

To shun the tempter's snare, 
Never to stray from God's highway. 

Or sinful pleasures share : 
Their path they traced, with girdle braced, 

Flung far each cumbrous weight. 
From error turned, and nobly spurned 

The tempter's gilded bait. 



84 The Happy Family. 



LXXVIII. 

When strongly pressed with jeer and jest 

To break some sacred law, 
They meekly dare the cross to bear, 

And from the scene withdraw, 
^lost sorely vexed, annoyed, perplexed 

By slander's venom often, 
They meekly tried, by love applied, 

Their foes' hard hearts to soften. 

LXXIX. 

With docile mind that longed to find 

God's hnger-prints on high, 
They turn their eyes with glad surprise 

To God's eternal sky. 
While others sleep they study deep. 

In nightly vision learning 
High truths Divine from lamps that 
shine, 

In Nature's temple burning : 

LXXX. 

Those stars that write in lines of light, 

On heaven's blazoned scroll, 
A word of love from God above 

To faith's discerning soul ; 
Whose constant rays, or meteor blaze. 

Earth's brightest gems eclipse, 
And poets sung with raptured tongue 

And seraph-glowing lips : 



The Happy Family. 85 



LXXXI. 

Those countless globes in night's fair robes. 

That ample breadth of span, 
Whose shoreless height proclaims aright 

The littleness of man. 
Those silent spheres in wisdom's ears 

Which speak while worlds are sleeping, 
Of watchful love that reigns above 

Its sleepless vigil keeping. 

LXXXIT. 

Those worlds of light that night by night 

Bedeck the vaulted sky, 
Were wisdom's preachers, voiceless teachers 

To their observant eye. 
Each silent star that beams afar 

A source of inward light 
To guide, console, and fill the soul 

With ever fresh delight. 

LXXXTII. 

The starry gem of Bethlehem 

That guided Eastern kings 
Their King to greet with welcome meet 

Of costly offerings ; 
To spread their gold and wealth unrolled 

Beneath that Infant's feet, 
Whose work of grace gives man a place 

In Eden's golden street. 



86 The Happy Family. 



LXXXIV. 

The moon whose face of virgin grace 

With beauty bathed the flowers, 
And brightly beamed and glanced and gleamed 

Through Eden's sinless bowers : 
Whose welcome light on Horon's height. 

At man's uplifted hand, 
Its setting stayed to yield its aid 

To Judah's warrior band : 

LXXXV. 

Whose glories shine from silver shrine, 

In full-orbed splendour burning. 
And monthly wane, but still again 

To duty swift returning ; 
With lambent flame fulfilled the aim 

F^or which its fires were lighted, 
And led to Hmi whose saving name 

Illumes a world benighted. 

LXXXVI. 

Those glories high that stud the sky 

And David's zeal awoke, 
With kindled fire to sweep the lyre 

And Godlike strains evoke ; 
Whose jewelled scroll oft led his soul 

In nightly trance to trace. 
With solemn awe, God's brighter law 

And nobler wealth of grace. 



The Happy Family. 87 



LXXXVII. 

All these proclaim with one acclaim, 

Like sentinels that stand 
At heaven's gate, that good and great 

Is He whose wisdom planned, 
Whose hand unfolds, whose arm upholds 

These rolling worlds on high, 
And nightly spreads above our heads 

These curtains of the skv. 



LXXXVIII. 

For them in vain that brilliant train 

Of constellations bright 
Shone not on high in midnight sky 

With blaze of lustrous light ; 
The glory spread above their head 

By lavish hand of love. 
Attracted oft their souls aloft 

To brighter worlds above. 

LXXXIX. 

With painful care and earnest prayer, 

And humbleness profound, 
The prophets' lore they pondered o'er 

As if on hallowed ground ; 
Their pages turned, those wonders learned, 

Which in their books abound. 
With searching thought that only sought 

That truth might still be found. 



88 The Happy Faniily. 



xc. 

f^or with the few they wisely knew 

That if their lot \vas cast 
In wondrous times when Nature's chimes 

Were ringing out their last ; 
When portents rise in Eastern skies, 

And earth is strewn with signs, 
The faithful read and meekly heed. 

Though public faith declines. 

xci. 

Whene'er they erred by thoughtless word, 

Or some unguarded deed, 
Though undesigned, with troubled mind 

They stanched the wound with speed, 
The fault confessed with honest breast 

As open as the dawn, 
With naught concealed, but all revealed 

As in the light of morn. 

XCII. 

Their love was ever fresh and new 

As morn's unsullied beam, 
Or sparklmg pearls of early dew 

By gently rippling stream. 
It ne'er grew old, or weak, or cold. 

By rough winds oft molested. 
But lasted long, as warm and strong 

As though untried, untested; 



TIic Happy Family. 89 



XCIIl. 

No joy to them in silk and gem 

To dress with endless pains 
For county balls in stifling halls, 

Where green-eyed envy reigns. 
Their richest dress of comeliness 

A spirit meek and lowly, 
Their brightest gem and diadem, 

A temper calm and holy. 

xciv. 

Nor were their modest figures found 

Enormously inflated, 
Their heads with costly rubbish crowned, 

With vanity elated, 
Where prance and glide in pomp and pride 

The mounted sons of Mars, 
Where splash and dash with sparkling flash 

Gay fashion's rolling cars. 

xcv. 

They ne'er forgot the humble lot 

Our Saviour made sublime. 
Or proudly thought the poor man nought. 

Or poverty a crime. 
W'ealth was not grace, nor want disgrace. 

In their enlightened eyes ; 
They knew that gold or titles hold 

No passport to the skies ; 



go The Happy Family. 



xcvi. 

That those possessing scanty dressing 

And meagre food and bad, 
Vile raiment wore, one nature bore 

With those in purple clad ; 
That they who dwell in poorhouse cell 

God's image also bear, 
As well as they who spend the day 

In fashion's pomp and glare. 

xcvir. 

From Him they learned who never spurned 

The poor man from His side, 
But heard his call, and granting all, 

His utmost needs supplied. 
Never to slight the poor man's right 

To sympathy and care, 
Or put to shame his modest claim 

Or supplicating prayer. 

XCVIII. 

Who with the low when here below 

His lowly dwelling made, 
To mean abodes in byway roads 

His welcome visits paid ; 
To deaf or blind, or tortured mind. 

His healing gifts displayed, 
And succoured those whose Avants and woes 

Called loudest for His aid. 



The Happy Family. 9 1 



XCIX. 

F'rom Him who came to cure the lame 

And cheer the darkened room, 
By sick-bed side who health supplied, 

And life by charnel-tomb ; 
Warm to His breast their children pressed 

Who loved His saving name. 
And valued much His healing touch 

From which such virtue came ; 

c. 

Who shared the lot and lowly cot, 

And with the poorest dwelt. 
The need relieved of all who grieved, 

And all their sorrows felt ; 
Who moved about to seek them out, 

The deaf and dumb to heal, 
The blind to lead, the starved to feed 

W^ith richly ample m.eal : 

CI. 

And when at length with failing strength 

His life approached its end, 
Sought still to claim that honoured name. 

The poor man's dying Friend ; 
With arm of might, from endless night 

Of unavailing grief, 
Who lifted high above the sky 

The poor repentant thief. 



92 The Happy Family, 



CII. 

They bore in mind that all mankind, 

Though poor their lot and mean, 
Had flesh and bone just like their own, 

And feelings just as keen ; 
They flew on fleet and willing feet 

With needful help to seek 
Each stricken haunt where famine gaunt 

Or sickness blanched the cheek. 



cm. 

With lowly mind they stooped to bind 

Torn heart or fractured limb, 
Or lull to deep and tranquil sleep 

}^y softly murmured hymn ; 
With manner bland and tender hand 

The furrowed temple smoothe. 
And with the charm of Gospel balm 

The anguished spirit soothe. 

CIV. 

They ne'er abused or e'en refused 

The poor man's humble plea, 
No boon denied, but all supplied 

With open hand and free ; 
Like God, who pours His ample stores 

On men of low degree. 
And daily sends on foes and friends 

In one wide brimming sea. 



The Happy Family. 93 



cv. 

A servant's feelings never pciined, 

But ever strove to treat 
Their servants like their Lord, who deigned 

To wash His servants" feet. 
For beasts and birds, had gentle words. 

And tender, kindly deeds, 
Like Him whose hand, o'er sea and land 

The whole creation feeds. 



CVL 

No toil or labour grudged their neighbour, 

Cost, or self-denial. 
But gave the prime of purse and time 

To ease their bitter trial ; 
Ready and swift the load to lift 

Which burdened backs oppressed, 
And soothe and calm with words of balm 

The aching, throbbing breast. 

€VII. 

When leaves fell fast before the blast. 

By hailstones rudely battered, 
And tough old trees beneath the breeze 

Were torn and rent and shattered : 
'Mid forests shaking, branches breaking. 

Lightning flashing fast, 
Rough winds sighing, havoc flying 

On the raE^in^: blast ; 



94 The Happy Family. 



CVIII. 

Men doomed to roam from much-loved ho 

Where wife and child reposed, 
To beating storm, in wildest form, 

Their hardy frames exposed ; 
When thunders pealed, and vessels reeled 

And sunk beneath the shock, 
Or tempest-driven, shattered, riven. 

Struck the fatal rock: 

CIX. 

When wide and far with splintered spar, 

As though in forest hewn. 
Wild beach and shore were covered o'er^ 

And seas with wrecks were strewn ; 
Their perilled lives made sailors' wives, 

With hearts distraught by care, 
With anxious fears shed scalding tears, 

And wrestle hard in prayer : 

ex. 

They lifted high their earnest cry 

To Him who vigil keeps 
O'er every land, and in whose hand 

The mighty ocean sleeps, 
To help and save the men who brave 

The perils of the deep, 
And soothe to rest the troubled breast 

Of those who madly weep. 



The Happy Family. 95 



CXI. 

They ever walked, and worked, and talked, 

And wrote, and read, and prayed, 
As in His sight, who Day and Night, 

And Light and Darkness made ; 
The Judge on high, whose searching eye 

No hidden thought eludes. 
No height confounds, no limit bounds. 

No serpent guile deludes ; 

CXII. 

As not their own, but His alone 

Who left the Court on high. 
Where hosts obey His gentle sway. 

For them to live and die ; 
Who loves to keep His blood-bought sheep 

In wisdom's narrow ways. 
To shield their hearts from Satan's darts, 

And guide them all their days : 

CXIII. 

As those who love the God above 

As Father, Saviour, Friend, 
And live as those whom Jesus knows 

And angel guards defend, 
The Father claims with sweetest names. 

As sons and daughters here, 
And means to own before His throne 

W^hen Jesus shall appear. 



96 The Happy Family. 



cxiv. 

Oh I may I meet in Zion's street 

That noble loving band, 
The white robe wear, and with them share 

The promised better land ; 
By sin unstained, by grief unpained, 

In bliss to dwell for ever, 
Where vanquished death and envy's breath 

Our friendships cannot sever. 



EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 



THE SEA-EAGLE. 

I. 
Up on the storm-beaten cliffs, 
Glancing down upon the dancing skiffs, 
Dreamily gazing on the tumbling waves 
Rolling and tossing in the vaulted caves, 
The old sea-eagle, with a foam-white pate, 
Sat in grave conclave with his brooding mate. 

II. 
Where the sea-gulls soar and shriek, 
Where the life-boats groan and creak, 
Wide through the air's dominions, 
He had sailed on broad-spread pinions, 
And daily gathered skill and might 
For broader sweep and bolder flight. 

in. 

Out from the murky sky, 
Where storm-clouds drifted by, 
A gleam of calm sunshine shone 
Straight on his rocky throne ; 
And with its clear revealing rays. 
Roused into life his dreamy gaze. 
G 



qS Eviblenis fivm Natitre, 

IV. 

With upward glance that pierced the sky, 
And a rush hke a whirhvind passing by, 
A flash of wings and a whisthng whirr, 
As though shrill blasts were all astir, 
And breezes sharp were awakening. 
Swooped from his perch the eagle-king. 

V. 

A weaker bird of feebler flight, 

But sharper scent and keener sight. 

Amidst the boiling spray, 

Had seized his finny prey, 

And bore it firmly in his beak. 

His starving mate and brood to seek. 

VI. 

Down with an eye of flashing flame 
The broad-winged eagle-monarch came, 
And like a thunderbolt of war, 
Dashed from his weaker brother's maw 
The prize obtained by patient toil, 
And bore it off as lawful spoil. 

VII. 

Too often thus the men who ride 
In regal pomp and purple pride. 
To live by honest work too grand, 
Or soil with toil their damty hand, 
Employ their strength to snatch away 
Their neighbour's wealth as easy prey. 



Eniblems fi'om Nature. 99 

VIII. 

Proud monarchs, from ambition's height, 

Decree with oaths that might is right : 

For them exists the world below, 

For them suns shine and harvests grow. 

That all inferior feebler things 

Sw^eat, toil, sow, spin, and reap for kings. 

IX. 

That men's strong thews and working brains 
Belong to him who o'er them reigns ; 
That kings may use their blood and bone 
To save from loss or risk their own. 
May grasp the fruit of all their toil, 
And feast and fatten on the spoil. 



THE SEA-BIRDS. 
I. 
Ranged on the steep ascent 
Of some sea-cliff's high battlement, 
In long unnumbered rows. 
The sea-birds find repose. 
And from that giddy dazzling height 
In safety launch their headlong flight- 



Man's soaring, toiling, plodding brain 
Seeks such a lofty height to gam 



lOO Emblems from Natwe. 

Such elevated flight sustain, 

But ahvays, all alas ! in vain ; 

Unless with faith's strong wing supplied, 

He sinks to ruin in the stormy tide. 

III. 
Man in his highest flights, 
j\Ian on his lofty heights. 
Finding no soothing rest 
To calm his aching breast, 
Care-driven to an early grave 
Topples down headlong in the surging wave. 



THE LIMPET. 
I. 
Down on the surf-beaten rocks, 
Exposed to tempests' rudest shocks. 
Clinging tenaciously for life. 
The limpet mocks the ocean's strife. 
Defies the surging billows' power. 
Firm rooted to its rocky tower. 

II. 

Thus souls who firmly clasp, 
With faith's strong nervous grasp, 
Salvation's moveless Rock, 
Can bear the rudest shock 
Of earth's wild raging storms. 
And death in fiercest forms. 



Emblems from Nature. lor 

THE SEA-DEPTHS. 
I. 
Down in sea-depths profound, 
Which plummets never sound, 
Which breezes never fan. 
Unseen by mortal man, 
There dwell eternal calms 
Unstirred by earth's alarms. 

II. 
And thus in vine-wreathed cot. 
The wise man's chosen lot. 
The proud world's haughty eye 
Unheeds or passes by, 
Oft dwells a sweet repose, 
From earthly cares and woes. 



THE MOUNTAIN PINE. 
I. 
Up the grand old mountain-sides 
Deep-rooted pines, like clinging brides. 
Bend their elastic forms 
Before the sweeping storms, 
Then deeper strike the root, 
And higher upward shoot. 

II. 
E'en thus the lowly saint, 
Without one proud complaint. 



I02 Emblems from N attune. 

To Jesus anchored fast, 

Bends to affliction's blast, 

Then rises strengthened by the shock. 

More firmly rooted to the living Rock. 



THE RUGGED HILL. 
I. 
Ix the bleak and barren hill 
No spade or plough can till, 
Where neither moss nor thorn 
The hardened rock adorn. 
There sleeps an endless store 
Of rich metallic ore. 

II. 

In spite of sun and showers. 
No sweetly-bloommg flowers. 
Or fields of waving grain 
Its stony wastes sustain ; 
And yet beneath its sterile soil 
Lies ample pay for manly toil. 

III. 
"Tis thus that looks that promise nought 
Conceal the golden mine of thought ; 
And, hid by surface rude and plain 
The gentle mood and working brain. 
Kind heart and loving soul are found, 
And briditest i^rems of wit abound. 



Eviblcvis from Nature. 103 



IV. 
'Tis not with chiselled face 
Where beauty loves to trace 
Its fairest lines of grace, 
We often hope to find 
Best heart or brilliant mind ; 
But talents lurk and virtues reign 
Beneath rough brow and features plain. 



THE BLACKTHORN. 

I. 
Thick in the roadside hedge, 
On the hillside's sloping ledge, 
In the early days of spring. 
The blackthorn blossoms fling 
Their fragrance far and wide, 
And, like a virgin bride, 
With snow-white wreath supplied, 
Sweet promise give of sweeter prime 
In autumn's golden harvest time, 

II. 

But when these perfumed wreaths of snow 
Beneath the summer sun-warmth grow 
To ripening clusters overhead, • 

And nourished, fanned, and daily fed 
By balmy breeze and gentle rain, 
Their full maturity attain, 



104 Emblems from Nattcre, 

The black sloe, with its biting touch, 
Our palate wounds, we marvel much 
So sweet a bud should thus produce 
Such nauseous fruit with acrid juice. 



III. 

'Tis thus that childhood's open face 
Of baby innocence and gi»ace, 
Its winning smiles and budding charms 
Of dimpled cheek and rounded arms, 
Its guileless prattle, fairy feet 
Its parent's wishes prompt to meet. 
Its simple trust in those above it, 
Its hearty love to those who love it. 
Like fragrant buds of promise raise 
Our highest hope for future days. 
We fondly dream of noblest deeds 
Resulting from such noble seeds ; 
Of modest purity of life, 
A holy dread of angry strife, 
Of temper never quickly stirred, 
And manly truthfulness of word ; 
A clustered group of richest fruit, 
Fit produce of such gentle root. 



IV. 

But when at length in riper years 
The long-expected fruit appears, 
The loving hearts whose guardian care, 
With proud delight in one so fair. 



Emblems from Nahtre, 105 

Their cherish'd offspring fondly trained, 
With bitter disappointment pained, 
Find childhood's grace has given way 
To passion's dark and lawless sway, 
The face that once with beauty smiled 
With discord's furrowed brow defiled ; 
In vain their yearning glances seek 
The dove-like eye and dimpled cheek, 
The bloodshot eye with anger speaks, 
Foul tempers blanch the faded cheeks. 
And black and dismal fruits abound 
Where once unsullied buds were found : 
Those fairy feet now rashly tread 
The downward pathway to the dead ; 
Those lips so guileless sweet and clean, 
Are soiled with lies and oaths obscene ; 
Those arms once lifted up in prayer 
Now raised in bloody strife to share ; 
Those infant hands which loved to clasp 
A mother's hand with loving grasp, 
In full-grown manhood's sturdy prime 
Dyed doubly deep with crimson crime ; 
The whole heart rank with foul complaints, 
The whole man filled with leprous taints. 
Sad contrast ! when the spring's fair buds produce 
No autumn fruit but stone and bitter juice. 
The child a budding wreath of virgin snow, 
The man a blackguard, coarse and basely low — 
The child one sunny brightly-beaming smile. 
The man one putrid mass of all that's vile. 



io6 Emblems from N'ahcre, 
THE FALLING BLOSSOMS. 



Beneath the orchard's spreading trees, 
Untouched by man or swept by breeze, 
Like snow-flakes scattered all around, 
The fairest blossoms strew the ground ; 
And childhood's inexperienced eye 
Bewails the wreck, and questions why 
Such dainty buds were only made 
To droop and wither, fall and fade. 

II. 
One cruel fate awaits them all, 
They gently loosen, softly fall, 
And leaf by leaf, with circling flight. 
Join the vast heaps of fading white. 
Ah, why such haste and speed to doom 
The lustrous wealth of such a bloom. 
The glory of such wondrous flower 
To perish in so brief an hour ? 

III. 
But man's mature and thoughtful mind 
A reason plain and good can find 
Why sweetly-fragrant blossoms all 
With swift decay so early fall : 
Their beauty frail, their glory brief. 
They only scatter leaf by leaf. 
That nobler forms of richer grace 
]\Lay swell and ripen in their place. 



Emblems f7vm N'atiire, 107 



IV. 

Thus Autumn proves with luscious crop 

That blossoms fair so quickly drop, 

A valued harvest to produce 

Of rich and pulpy globes of juice. 

And who would grieve for blossomed spray, 

Like melting snow-drift passed away, 

When clustered fruit of blushing bloom 

In ripened beauty fills its room ? 

V. 

'Tis thus our household blossoms oft, 
So sweetly fragile, fair, and soft, 
With baby grace and budding bloom. 
Drop gently to an early tomb. 
No wintry blast or poisoned breeze. 
But silent inroads of disease 
Press peacefully the vital thread, 
The work is done, the child is dead. 

VI. 

And parents oft, with stricken heart, 
Unschooled by faith to bear the smart, 
With wTithing anguish question why 
Their sweetest bud was doom'd to die ; 
Arraign the Ruler of the skies. 
And view with grief and blank surprise 
So fair a creature's gentle breath 
Thus quickly stopped by early death. 



io8 E^nblems f7^om JVahcre, 



VII. 

But men whose faith has dared to dimb 
Above the boundaries of time, 
And view with steadfastness of gaze 
The coming world of endless days ; 
Or seen the ransomed spirits stand, 
Disrobed of flesh, at God's right hand, 
A serving host of seraph priests 
At Eden's high and holy feasts ; 

VIII. 

And know the storms and waves of strife 
That crowd and sweep the sea of life, 
Have learn'd to own the wisdom why 
Their babes in early childhood die. 
Their tears for infants early dead 
As blooming blossoms quickly shed. 
Dim not their view of future days, 
Nor stay their sounding hymns of praise. 

IX. 

Ah ! who would grudge that baby form 
A swift escape from wind and storm. 
To find within the Saviour's breast 
Its sheltered home of endless rest '^ 
Thrice happy bark whose spreading sail, 
So softly caught by gentle gale, 
Is wafted clear of sin and pain, 
And taucrht so soon that death is gain I 



Ejublans from Xatuiw 109 



And who that sees the coming mom. 
WTien God's eternal day shall dawn, 
And all that sleep in Christ shall rise 
With bodies fitted for the skies. 
Would grieve when fragile forms of grace 
Drop softly to their resting-place 
To waken, strengthened by the night. 
Resplendent forms of dazzling light ? 

XL 

Blossoms and babes appear to grow 
For nothing more than outward show. 
To win the smile of passers-by, 
Then gently drop their bloom and die. 
But let the har\-est day declare 
Why swifth^ fall those blossoms fair — 
They die not, but retain their place 
In nobler forms of richer grace. 



HYMN 

TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



■ As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of 
God." — Rom. viii. 14. 

I. 

Thou Blessed Spirit of my God I 
To Thee I owe my every good, 

Each footstep in the upward road, 
Each truth embraced or understood. 

IT. 

Water of life from heaven's high hills 
Flowing broad-volumed full from Thee, 

Blessing the earth in myriad rills, 
Touched my dead soul and made it free. 

in. 
Free from corruption's rampant reign. 

Free, for no longer dead to thee ; 
Free from the world^s seductive chain. 

From Satan's cruel bondage free. 



The Holy Spirit. 1 1 r 



IV. 

When first I tried my heart to raise 
Godward in vain, Thy breath divine 

The child-hke voice of prayer and praise 

Inspired, and stamped, and sealed me Thine. 

V. 

Thy light revealed the sores within, 
, Led me to Jesu's bleeding side, 
Shewed the tremendous guilt of sin, 
Gave the death-wound to all my pride. 

VI. 

Descending softly as the dove. 

Thou didst subdue each fierce desire, 

Kindled within a heart of love, 
And fed the flame with sacred fire. 

VII. 

My teacher Thou in early youth. 
In manhood's prime, in waning age ; 

My guide to each immortal truth 
That brightly gilds the sacred page. 

VIII. 

When sin-convinced, by Sinai cursed, 
Sorrow's dark shadow o'er me fell, 

Thy gentle hand the cloud dispersed, 
And raised me from the ^ates of hell. 



1 1 2 The Holy Spirit. 



IX. 



Source of all grace, fountain of love, 
Wellspring of faith, and hope, and joy, 

O'erflowing from the throne above, 
Thy fruit is bliss without alloy. 



X. 



Oft in temptation's trying day. 

My feeble breath of prayer would fail, 

Thy grace has nerved me still to pray, 
And as a Prince with God prevail. 



XL 



When anxious cares and heavy woes 
O'erwhelmed my heart in deepest grief, 

Thy soothing balsam gave repose, 
And brought my sinking soul relief. 

XII. 

Helped me to lift each weighty care. 
With strength proportioned to my day ; 

And uncomplainingly to bear 

The rough discomforts of the way. 

XIII. 

Withdrew my soul from earthly toys, 
From broken cisterns made it part, 

And with the feast of gospel joys. 
Ravished and satisfied mv heart. 



The Holy Spirit, 1 1 



XIV. 

Drew me aside from poisoned streams, 
With milk and wine assuaged my thirst. 

Shed on the world thy lightning beams. 
And all its gilded bubbles burst. 

XV. 

Still cleanse me, teach, support, and guide 
Still nourish, solace, warm, and lead : 

StiU bind me to my Saviour's side, 
And help me on His love to feed. 

XVI. 

In crosses, struggles, conflicts, w oe. 

Help me to conquer by Thy grace, 
To triumph wrestling with the foe. 

And run with zeal the Christian race. 

XVII. 

If error tempt my feet to turn. 

And leave the Sa^dour's bleeding side : 
Oh, bid my faith again discern 

The sin-atoning purple tide I 

XVIII. 

And when death's dreary vale I tread. 

With Pisgah views my spirit cheer. 
Bear up my frail and drooping head. 

.\nd chase away each rising fear. 

H 



O 



1 1 4 The Holy Spirit, 



XIX. 



Oh, lead me on, Thou Good and Great, 
Till joyously my pilgrim feet 

Shall enter Eden's pearly gate, 

Its gem-paved court and golden street. 



THE BIBLE. 



' The szvord of the Spirit, which is the "Word of God.'' — Eph. vi. 17. 
* The kingdom of heaven is Hke unto tre?.sure hid in a tield." — 

Matt. xiii. 44. 
' Thy word is a lamp unto vny feet."" — Psalm cxix. 105. 
' The law of th^- mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold 

and silver.'"' — Psal:m cxix. 72. 

I. 

There is a sword of sharpest edge. 

Of matchless temper, keenest point, 
That rives tough armour hke a wedge. 

And penetrates its every jomt. 



II. 
Strikes through the iron-plated heart. 

Couches the eyeball blind and bleared : 
Fleet as the lightning's cleaving dart. 

Pierces the conscience triply seared. 

III. 
The strongest force of Satan's arms 

With ease repels : unveils his wiles. 
When masked in Scripture's borrowed charms 

He blandly wooes with seraph sirules. 



ii6 The Bible, 



IV. 

That sword is not the flaming brand 
The angel poised at Eden's gate, 

To keep man's rude unhallowed hand 
From snatchincr here a deathless fate. 



Bright as that brand with flashing gems 
From Eden's mines, of wondrous worth ; 

Its splendour guides the sons of men 
Back to the Tree of Life on earth. 

VI. 

That weapon forged by skill divine. 
For conquest made, the Spirit's sword ; 

No rust shall know, but brightly shine, 
Undmimed for ever as the WORD. 

VII. 

That Word is like an open field, 

Where priceless treasures, wealth untold, 
Beneath the surface lie concealed. 

Like hoarded piles and bars of gold. 

VIII. 

With verdure clad of purest green, 
And flowers culled from Zion's hill. 

Of sweetest fragrance, rainbow sheen, 
And pencilled with divinest skill. 



The Bible, 1 1 



IX. 



Oh ! blessed he, whose searching eye, 
Attracted by these blossoms rare, 

Is led its deeper depths to try, 
And delve and dig by earnest prayer ; 



To read, and scan, and sift, and learn, 
Its fullest length and breadth explore. 

Each golden sentence weigh, and turn 
Its mine of wealth — its veins of ore. 

XI. 

That word resembles much a lamp. 
By skill elaborately wrought. 

Its massive frame of wondrous stamp 
With jewelled glories richly fraught. 

XII. 

But yet the brilliant outer form, 
Enshrines a brighter inner light. 

To guide the vessel through the storm, 
And scatter wide the shades of night. 

XIII. 

Oh ! happy he, in early youth. 

With Christian banner full unfurled, 

Who grasps this lamp of shining truth 
To guide him through a hostile world. 



1 1 8- The Bible. 



XIV. 



A royal CASKET is the Word, 

Adorned with rubies, pearls, and gold, 
Surpassing all that ear hath heard, 

An opulence of gems untold. 



XV. 



Thrice happy he this casket opes 

With faith's bright key ; its ample stores 

Will fill his soul with noblest hopes, 
As all its wealth he wide explores. 



XVI. 



A title-deed to mansions fair, 

A fadeless crown, a sceptre bright, 

Proclaiming him the rightful heir 
To portions with the saints in light. 



XVII. 



This wondrous Book of books remains, 
The old man's staff, the guide of youth, 

Unscarred by Time, undimmed by stains, 
A Beacon-light of quenchless truth. 



XVIII. 



Descriptive prose or glowing verse, 
Can ne'er describe its deathless fame, 

One tithe its matchless worth rehearse, 
Or half its use to man proclaim. 



The Bible. 1 1 9 



XIX. 

Sages have scanned its sacred page, 
And found their wisest maxims there : 

Painters have hmned, from age to age, 
Its scenes on canvas rich and rare. 

XX. 

Poets renowned of every clime. 

To it have swept their softest lyre. 
And bathed their noblest, sweetest rhyme 

I if its deep fount of lambent tire : 

XXL 

In lofty flights of grateful praise, 
Soaring like eagles in the dawn, 

From out its sunlit cloudless blaze, 
Their deepest inspiration drawn. 

XXII. 

And skilled musicians world-renowned. 

Ransacked its stores with endless pams, 
To its unrivalled themes to sound 

Their highest notes, their grandest strams. 

XXIII. 

And better still, the Manyr throng. 

Apostles, Fathers. Heroes. Saints, 
And Prophets famed in Sacred song, 

Who wept on earth their long complaints, 



I20 The Bible 



XXIV. 



Have all been guided by its light 
To crowns of glory, thrones of state, 

To founts of ever-fresh delight, 
And bliss unutterably great. 



CRINOLINE. 



I SING the glories of this new invention, 

No doubt concocted with the fair intention, 

By placing ladies each an iron cage in, 

To make them more attractive and engaging ; 

To make on man's soft heart a vast impression, 

Or gain from millionaires a large possession, 

Fair women sought in vain a mode to find. 

By which they might display the largeness of their 

mind ; 
And hit at last upon the fashion strange, 
To give their outer form an ampler range. 
We all know well a kernel is the size, 
Its outer rind can comfortably comprise, 
And thus the ladies, if we reason well, 
Must be computed by their outer shell. 
The poet spurned the measure by the span, 
The mind, said he, 's the standard of the man ; 
But ladies, from the duchess to the flirt, 
Claim to be measured by their breadth of skirt. 
And now each fair one's great pretensions. 
Are to be judged of by her vast dimensions. 
Of course the lady of the amplest girth, 
Must be the lady of the greatest worth, 



1 2 2 Crinoline, 

The largest ladies in the biggest carriage ride, 
And with the strongest horses are supplied. 
The widest house demands the widest dame, 
And broadest acres she may also claim. 
The fattest lass must wed the fattest baronet, 
And broadest pyramid be capped with brightest 

coronet. 
The female world is sinking fast to strangely wicked 

ways, 
When ladies steel their petticoats, and daily bone 

their stays. 
Each lady burning with the proud desire to be 
The centre of a fashionable ciirle^ she 
Seeks as the pivot of her swelhng pride 
To have the widest circle round her side. 
With most inflated pride the self-indulgent elves, 
With selfish zeal began to aggrandise themselves. 
Hooped like a barrel to contain strong liquor, 
Caged like a linnet in a frame of wicker. 
Try to embrace your sister, and you find. 
You've clutched at nothing but a bag of wind I 
It is a 7iscfiil age, and ladies must 
Employment find, to polish off the rust. 
And clear the world of cobwebs and of dust. 
Moll with her broom is antiquated. 
Sweepers of crossings ante-dated ; 
Ladies with patriotic zeal combined, 
To purify the earth a scheme to find. 
To burst forth like a deluge on the world. 
With sails all spread and banners all unfurled, 
Each lovely form a vast domestic broom, 
Whose slightest move shall sweep the dusty room. 



Ci^inoline. i 2 3 

They made their dress a rare machine, 

A vast balloon of crinoline, 

Witli monstrous amplitude of skirt, 

To keep the crowded pathway clean, 

And sweep our cities free from dirt ! 

Young ladies'-maids have now an endless task 

To make their lady's robe a swelling cask, 

Bulging out broadly, wide to till a chasm. 

Which to complete without a sigh or spasm. 

They call the elements with them to share 

The toil with India-rubber bags of air. 

Fill out the swelling raiment, putt' and blow, 

While ladies fatter, plumper, stouter, broader grow : 

Come, ply the billows, wmds of heaven split 

Your cheeks with pufiing, till you make it tit ! 

And now no longer narroij bigots they 

In broad Church pews in broader kirtles pray. 

Their swelling folds and mantles wide. 

Extending far on every side. 

Will soon demand another strange invention, 

And force our Bishops to fresh church-extension, 

To build instead of parish church a 

Cathedral made of gutta-percha, 

That may expand, and thus give wider play 

And elbow-room to those Avho meet to pray. 

The corporation to prevent disorder 

]\Iust issue quick a most emphatic order 

To make each pathway twenty cubits broader. 

And even Swan and Edgar, would they sell their 

stores. 
Must open wider their enticing doors. 
Streets are not safe with walking- mountains in them 



124 Crinoline, 

Tempting each passer-by to skin or thin them. 
For surely girls with such tremendous charms, 
Strike all our spirits dumb with dread alarms, 
And force us well to guard our threatened legs and 

arms ; 
Our hearts not won, but scared by such stupendous 

lasses. 
We rank them one and all among the " dangerous" 

classes. 
A poor young man who measures twice three 

feet, 
Meeting a full-developed Miss in lane or street. 
Dressed in this wide inflated bag. 
Wag though he be, is not so great a wag. 
As the ribbed pendulum in all its pride 
That sways unsteadily from side to side. 
To his dismay he sees, like Balaam's ass, 
An angel in the way that will not let him pass ; 
Angel encircled from the waist to heel 
In strong stiff coils of firmly-tempered steel. 
Struck by these hoops and smitten on the hip. 
He shrinks to naught, will totter, reel, and slip. 
Go down unseen like rudely-foundered ship 
Sunk at the Nore 
By a seventy-four. 
Or smashed to jam 
By some steam ram ; 

W^hile the flaunting silken flounces cast a 
Triumphant shadow o'er the sad disaster. 
Xo wonder sparks attracted by such gear, 
Have dared to venture dangerously near. 
And finding no resistance, naught but fustian. 



Crinoline, 1 2 5 

Have burnt up ladies by the score in fierce combus- 
tion. 

(jirls by the thousand, in the coldest weather, 

Robed for the ball with garland, plume, and feather, 

Shriek with mad anguish, and with horrid groans 

Die in the furnace of these torrid zones. 

Our Oriental neighbours gravely say 

We deal with women worse than even they ; 

Our conduct seems to them most strangely incon- 
sistent, 

When we to banish suttee were always so persis- 
tent. 

We would not let them burn old women lank and 
lean. 

And yet we burn our fairest to the idol Crinoline. 

They offered but the widow with sad and haggard 
face. 

Our victims are the sweetest and the loveliest of 
our race. 

Their victims were but women whom their husbands 
had deserted, 

Ours fair and blooming maidens with whom lovers 
gaily flirted. 

Theirs women with dead husbands whose life was 
near its end, 

Without a heart to love them, or need them, or be- 
friend ; 

Ours healthy girls beginning life, who can be 
spared but badly. 

Or soft and tender brides whose lovers need them 
sadly. 

Talk of the broadsides of our ine7t of war, 



126 Cr mo line. 

The broadsides of our women beat them far. 
Our ships are now all iron-plated, 

And cupolas protect our tars ; 
And ladies, dreading to be mated, 

Ensconce themselves in wicker jars. 
While, strange hallucination ! 
Monstrous infatuation ! 

Fond mothers. who may wish their girls to settle, 
Encase them all in steel and make them girls of 

metal. 
Young men, beware 
The wide-spread snare ! 
Say to each forward, pushing, dashing flirt, 
" Contract a marriage ! No, Miss, first contract 

your skirt I " 
Thousands the charms of metal bars of gold may 

feel, 
But where 's the heart. 
With all their art, 
They could expect to steal away with bars of 

plastic steel ? 
My serv^ant-gn-1, when asked what all this metal 

meant, 
Rephed, " O please, sir, 'tis a trap to catch a settle- 
ment." 
All things are monstrous — monstrous ships and 

shops. 
Guns monstrous, monstrous pigs and turnip-tops, 
Monstrous prize bullocks, monstrous riband ties, 
Gigantic railways, and colossal schemes of lies. 
Monstrous long speeches, monstrous legal actions. 
By lawyers most interminably run out ; 



Crinoline. 1 2 



/ 



Monster debates, and huge red-tape transactions, 

With infinite circumlocution spun out. 
Our battles now are fought with twenty-thousand 

pounders 
Whose ball tlies scores of miles before it falls and 

flounders. 
Everything now is '* very like a whale," 
That is, developed on the largest scale, 
And yet the fair sex, whether short or tall, 
Prodigious in their ponderosity, 
Xymph-like or sylph-like, threaten fair to be 
The most unwieldy monsters of them all. 
Does the world wish that each inflated lass 
Should man in bulk and vast rotundity surpass ? 
Will ladies conquer in a blowing squall 
By being far the biggest puff of all .^ 
Or in the rough-tost sea of life prevail, 
Like flshes, by their breadth of fln, and flowing 

width of tail ? 
Suppose our sculptors, with their subtle chisels' 

play, 
Wrought on imperishable marble all their life-long 

day, 
To catch and hand down to remotest ages 
The form and figure of these fashionable cages, 
Or painters spread on acres of their canvas sheet, 
With seas of colour, these most boundless skirts 

complete. 
What Exhibition in the world would hold them ? 
Who would not start and shudder to behold them ? 
Pose them in witching groups the most dramatic. 
Expressing tender passions most ecstatic ; 



1 2 8 Crinoline, 

Place them in attitudes the most imposing, 

Kneehng, rechning, dancing, dozing ; 

What graceless monsters would the world proclaim 
them ! 

How difficult 'twould be to classify or name them ! 

One is an elephant reclining, 

The next a mammoth after dining, 

A hippopotamus dilated, 

A megatherion inflated. 

Leviathan by gas elated, 

A vast procession of tremendous boulders. 

Cluster of monsters, stunning all beholders. 

And what is that the painters have produced ? 

O woman ! would thou wert in this belied, tra- 
duced ! 

Woman I a fly in amber on the largest scale ; 

Jonah enveloped in the vast-ribb'd whale, 

A tiny yacht with piles of crowded sail. 

When will this masquerading folly cease. 

This bulging humour of expanse decrease ? 

Flinch with his satirists in vain has laid the lash on 

This most stupendous and unwieldy fashion ; 

Every one sees they have become through it. 

Each a broad target for the shafts of wit ; 

And every sage or fop, wise man or dainty beau, 

Declares the force of folly could no farther go. 

Or fashion's raging madness any broader grow ; 

And even ladies, too, in sober moments own, 

This wide-expanding habit now is more than fully 
blown. 

What shall we do to mitigate the rage. 

Correct the scandal or the plague assuage ? 



Crinoline, 129 

Banish them far among the unendurables, 

In hospitals erected for incurables ? 

Send them to larger planets that will hold them ? 

Where larger men may prize, and larger eyes behold 

them ? 
Spirit of Howard, in thy starry sphere ! 
Would thy great heart were present here ! 
Would that thy prison-bursting hands 
Could rive our ladies' fashion-twisted band , 
Break all the fetters that distort their form, 
And cap the climax of thy great Reform ! 
Gentle inhabitants of this world-famed city, 
Hold them not up to scorn — but tender pity. 
Let your warm hearts on ladies have compassion, 
Imprisoned in the mesh of this most foolish 

fashion ! 
Remember, 'twas for your delight and pleasure. 
That you might clasp them as your peerless trea- 
sure. 
They thus enlarged their most attractive charms, 
' And made them vast to suit a giant's arms. 
They knew you thought it both a shame and sin 
For woman to be lath-like sparse and thin. 
A woman like a 7'eed will scold you by the hour. 
Snappish and peppery, shrewish, sharp and sour ; 
A woman broad and buxom is a mountain of good 

temper, 
Large-hearted, kind, unruffled, her love eadein 

semper. 
And so to win your love, and banish all suspicion. 
That their tempers or their hearts were in a thin 
condition, 

I 



1 30 Crinoline. 

They stretched abroad their wings, (who now can 

call them lean ?) 
And clothed themselves in fifty yards of spreading 
crinoline. 

The ladies who are fashion's queens 

Are very much averse 
To being thought of narrow means, 

Or having scanty purse — 
And thus they lead their sisters to 

Extravagance in dress, 
And if a murmur comes from jou, 

They say there's no redress — 
Or if you want redress at all, 
Redress the most befitting. 
Your lady will demand and call 
For most complete refitting. 
Fair ladies, let me now to you address 
One word of counsel on your form of dress. 
Deeply, devoutly, in my heart of hearts I feel. 
Soft hearts beat true beneath those ribs of steel. 
Interminable eccentricity is bad, 
And stiff perversity is also sad — 
Our habits to reform, is now the task assigned 
To the fair hands of lovely womankind. 
Make then at once a glorious Reformation 
In all the female habits of the nation. 
Do not explode in malice, wrath, or spleen. 
If I remind you that your crinoline 
Is neither useful or sesthetical, 
Nor orthodox, but most heretical. 
Scathed by wit's keen and penetrating fire. 
Smitten by logic, common sense, and satire, 



Crinoline. 1 3 i 

Let the gigantic fabric smash. 
Shiver, collapse, and fail with thunderous crash. 
Enlarge your charities with la\'ish hand, 
Large-hearted, bid your bounties wide expand. 
Make your brain larger, broaden out your mmd. 
Wide spread your sympathies to all mankind : 
Lavish broadcast on merit all your praise. 
And shun in conduct near and narrow ways : 
But oh ! with wisdom's golden girdle girt, 
Compress your garments, keep them from the dirt. 
Contract your flounces and curtail your skirt. 
To you we owe, as mother, daughter, wife, 
Our sweetest pleasures in the path of life. 
Our richest blessings gathered at your feet 
Without your smiles are never half complete. 
Our cro\sTiing boon, of richest gifts the best. 
To your soft lips, when infants, to be pressed, 
Fondled and cradled, petted, watched, cares sed. 
And soothed to softest, balmy, dewy res:. 
Within the circling folds of your angelic breas: : 
To taste your dove-like 5\Tnpathy in woe. 
And clasp your faithful hand when sorrows flow : 
And last of all, when sickness dims the sight, 
And o'er the soul come down the shades of night. 
Then gently with the hand of tenderest love. 
You point our footsteps to the realms above. 



THE TRUE CHRISTIAN 
PASTOR. 



" Who is sufficient for these things?" — 2 CoR. ii. i6. 
I. 

What marvels of transforming grace 
To make a man a saint I 

Old Adam's image to efface ! 

The Saviour's form divinely trace! 

And purge corruption's taint ! 

11. 
The Holy Spirit, like a dove, 

Broods o'er the moral waste, 
Pours through the soul the tide of love, 
Lifts up the heart to joys above, 

And bids it freely taste. 

III. 
Makes the barred gates of error yield. 

Puts Satan's hosts to flight; 
Arms him with breastplate, helmet, shield, 
Bids him the Spirit's falchion wield, 

And faith's stron^ic battle feht. 



The Christian Pastor. \y^ 

IV. 
But higher still and nobler far, 

The work of grace Divine, 
To make that saint a burning star, 
A glowing standard in the war, 

In Christ's right hand to shine. 

V. 

What streams of varied gifts combined 

Are needed for his part ; 
What noblest qualities refined 
Must fill the faithful pastor's mind, 
And permeate his heart ! 

VL 

Herald of grace from Heaven's high court, 

Credentialed from above, 
In every act, and word, and thought 
Ambassador from Him who bought 
His soul with dying love. 

VII. 

For sinful man, 'mid toil and strife, 
To live as He would live ; 
For sinful man, where ills are rife, 
Ease, health, renown, and even life, 
To give as He would give. 

VIIL 

'Midst friend and foe, by day, by night, 
To be what He has been, 

The salt to cleanse, the guiding light, 

A living letter, clear and bright, 
By all distinctly seen. 



1 34 The Christian Pastor. 

IX. 
With builder's skill and watchful prayer, 

To build on Christ alone, 
And yet raise up with pious care 
Each polished shaft and pillar fair 

From that Foundation-stone. 

X. 

The Fisher's patient faith of heart 

The Gospel net to cast, 
And ply unweariedly his art, 
Nor from his loved employment part, 
Till crowned with joy at last. 

XI. 

A Shepherd's tenderness of care, 

A Father's yearning love. 
With soul of ceaseless wrestling prayer, 
Each lamb to guide, instruct, prepare 
For thrones of bliss above. 

XII. 

A Pilot's eye, the ship to guide. 

His firm hand on the helm, 
Nor blench when rises passion's tide. 
Or demons on the tempest ride. 
The bark to overwhelm. 

XIII. 

A Leader's courage much to dare. 

And lift his standard high. 
The battle's fiercest rage to share, 
The cross's crushing weight to bear. 
Without a groan or sigh. 



The CJiristian Pastor. 135 

XIV. 

Like Watchman at the city gate, 

He sleeps not at his post, 
With piercing eye and head elate, 
His trumpet warns of coming fate, 

Or tread of martial host. 

XV. 

Like Husbandman, with sterile farm, 

Replete with weeds and stones, 

Who drives the plough with stalwart arm, 

Until the soil beneath the charm 
His patient labour owns. 

XVI. 

Then broadcast o'er the furrow^ed plain. 
Thus deepened by the plough, 
He scatters wide the chosen grain. 
And prays for heaven's refreshing rain 
To make it fruitful now. 

XVII. 

To melt the sinner's heart to tears. 

To fill with solemn awe. 
To wake his conscience, rouse his fears. 
He echoes in his drowsy ears 

The thunders of the law. 

XVIII. 

But ploughshare of the law alone 

Will never change the soul. 
Dissolve the granite heart of stone. 
The tempter from his seat dethrone, 
Or make the sinner whole. 



136 The Christian Pastor. 

XIX. 

The still small voice of dying love 

The sinner's soul must hear, 
The peaceful message from above, 
Borne like the olive by the dove, 
Proclaiming mercy near. 

XX. 

He therefore lifts the cross on high, 

And on the world's high-road 
Beckons and calls each passer-by, 
Nor ceases from his earnest cry, 

" Behold the Lamb of God ! " 

XXL 

Deaf to the world's seductive voice. 

His garment spotless keeps, 
Thrusts wide aside forbidden joys. 
With each glad heart will yet rejoice. 

And weep with him that weeps. 

XXII. 
From his dear Master's pattern learns 

The world's dread laugh to bear, 
Ambition's gilded baubles spurns. 
From sin's enticing circles turns, 

His Master's cross to share. 

XXIII. 

What seraph tongue that man requires. 

What aptitude to teach, 
W^hat store of zeal's unwasting fires, 
And all that man's warm heart inspires 
By lip and life to preach ! 



The Christian Pastor. 

XXIV. 

Skill to console in wearing toil, 

The tender lambs caress, 

The angered friends to disembroil. 

Apply to wounds the balm and oil, 
And comfort in distress. 

XXV. 

O Thou that lillest all in all. 

Below, beneath, above, 

Before Thy throne we prostrate fall ! 

On Thee, on Thee alone we call, 
For those we dearly love. 

XXVI. 
Each mind with stores of knowledge till, 

Each soul with love inspire, 
Thy flock to tend, Thy vineyard till, 
With patience, firmness, courage, skill, 

And Up of living fire. 

XXVII. 
With burning eloquence to preach, 

And feed Thy chosen sheep : 
With quenchless zeal to warn and teach 
Each straggler from the fold to reach. 

And in the pasture keep. 

XXVIII. 

Thrice holy Father — fount of love I 
To Thee our eyes we lift ; 
Baptize Thy heralds from above 
With sevenfold graces of the Dove, 
And every perfect gift. 



0/ 



138 The Christian Pastor, 

XXIX. 

Chief Shepherd ! bid Thy boundless grace 

In copious streams descend, 
In lines of light on them to trace 
The brightness of Thy shining face, 
Till life and toil shall end. 

XXX. 

Great Spirit ! with Thy favour blest, 
In all Thy Church abide ; 
But chiefly in each pastor's breast, 
With noblest, sweetest unction rest, 
In fullest, richest tide ! 



TO DIE IS GAIN." 

;PHIL. I. 21.) 



When I view the gates of glory 

Beaming through the veil of death ; 
When I chaunt Redemption's story 
With my faintly faltering breath ; 
Oh, bemoan not, 
Weep and groan not, 
Tell me what my Saviour saith. 

II. 

Whisper in my dying ear 

Words of sweetest joy and gladness : 
Sing soft hymns that banish fear, 
Let me see no dropping tear. 
Let me hear no tone of sadness 
Or dreary dirge 
When on the verge 
Of home, with glory flashing near. 



140 To Die is Gain, 

IN. 

Rather mingle strains symphonious 

With the welcome of the sky, 
Seraph harps and lips harmonious 
Sweetly sing — '^'Tis life to die ; 
Happy mortal, 
Pass the portal 
To thy Father's house on high I " 

IV. 
Envy not my soul its rest, 

When its wings are swift unfolding ; 
Keep it not from being pressed 
To its Saviour's loving breast, 

When with unveiled eye beholding 
Fadeless treasures, 
Endless pleasures, 
In the palace of the blest. 



LOVE NOT THE WORLD. 



• If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not 
in him," — i Jqhx ii. 15. 



Oh ! to be dead to earth, 
To spurn its fading toys ; 

Born by a higher birth 
To everlasting joys 1 

IL 
Oh to be free from earth, 

Its trammels, pits, and snares ; 
To rise above its mirth, 

Its troubles and its cares ! 

III. 
Oh to esteem this earth, 

As deathless spirits should, 
A desert land of dearth, 

With naught of lastino; s^ood ! 



142 Love 710 1 the Woidd. 

IV. 

Oh to have done with earth, 
' Its bustle, toil, and din. 
Its joys of little worth, 
Its atmosphere of sin ! 

V. 

Oh to be born of God, 

His boundless love to know : 

To feel it shed abroad, 
And in my bosom glow ! 

VI. 

Oh to live near to God, 

To taste His richest grace ; 

To own Him as my Lord, 
And see His smiling face ! 

VII. 

Oh to be like my Lord 
In body, spirit, soul ; 

Each wish with His in full accord 
While endless ages roll I 

VIII. 

Oh to be with my Lord, 

The last dread battle fought, 

'Mid Paradise restored. 
And Heaven's all-perfect court! 



THE DYING SAINT TO HIS 
RELATIVES. 



Oh ! weep not for me since my Jesus is here ; 

Sweet children, dear kinsmen, oh ! weep not for 
me ; 
Jehovah, my Father, has bid me not fear. 

And Christ for my safety becomes guarantee. 

11. 

In days that are gone, His soft bosom was mine, 
And shall it not be when I need it the most ? 

And will He not let me for ever recline 

On the warm heart that bled, that I might not be 
lost ? 

III. 

Oh! welcome the thought that He loves me the same, 
Eternal as free is the love of our Lord ; 

Cold death may be dark, but in Jesus' sweet name, 
Hallelujahs shall float o'er the Jordan I ford. 



144 T^^^ Dying Saint, 



IV. 



At the portals of Jasper, as fair as the sun, 
My Saviour I see with a look full of love : 

By faith, now I claim the bright crown He has won, 
Effulgent to shine in His kingdom above. 



Oh ! soon shall I put off the burden of flesh, 
And quit you a while for a home in the skies. 

But there shall our friendships all blossom afresh, 
And God wipe away every tear from our eyes. 

VI. 

Then away with all sadness, depression, and gloom, 
And hopefully, joyously, follow me there ; 

For the Sun of eternity lights up the tomb. 
And the conquest of Jesus His people must share. 



THE BELIEVER'S TRIUMPH 
IN DEATH. 



Angels, as ye wing your way 
From the realms of endless day, 
Deign to grace our lower sky ; 
Come ! and Wonder, 
Come and see a Christian die. 



IL 

Ye who tempt the heirs of glory, 
Ye who hate redemption's story, 
See your leader vanquished lie ; 

Come ! and Wonder, 
Come and see a Christian die. 



in. 

Ye who search creation o'er. 
To exhaust kind Nature's store. 
See a balm all yours outvie ; 

Come! and Wonder, 
Come and see a Christian die. 
K 



146 The Believer s 



IV. 

Ye who still unwearied pore 
On the page of classic lore, 
Feast your mind and feast your eye : 

Come 1 and Wonder, 
Come and see a Christian die. 



V. 

Ye who mock at revelation, 

Ye who scorn your soul's salvation, 

Try its truth this touchstone by ; 

Come ! and Wonder, 
Come and see a Christian die. 



VI. 

Kinsmen, ye who love your friend, 
To his death-bed hither wend, 
Hear the dying Christian cry, 

" Come ! and welcome, 
Welcome, friends, to see me die ! " 



VII. 

Ere the silver cord be broken, 
Ere the last farewell be spoken, 
Ere the spirit soar on high, 

Come ! and Wonder, 
Come and see a Christian die. 



Triuviph in Death. 147 



VII 1. 

Blessed Jesus, while we live, 
All that 's needful freely give ; 
When we on a death-bed lie. 
Come and teach us, 
Teach us. Saviour, how to die. 



REJOICE IN THE LORD 
ALWAY." 

Phil. iv. 4. 



I. 

Christian ! change the look of sadness 

For the smile of beaming gladness, 

Bid the mists of carking care 

And the cloud of dark despair 

Flee, before the healing rays 

Of the Sun of endless days ; 

The Rock of Ages changes never, 
Banish doubting thou^rhts for ever. 



Widow ! doff thy weeds of sadness, 
Clothe thee in the robes of gladness, 
Christ adopts thee as His bride, 
Christ, the dead, but glorified, 
He whose brow once pierced with thorns 
Now a crown of bliss adorns ; 

Thy Maker acts the husband's part 
To fill with joy thy widowed heart. 



''Rejoice in the Lord A/zuay/' 149 



III. 

IMourner! change thy garb of sadness 

For the robe of joy and gladness, 

Let the Gospel's healing balm 

All thy guilty fears disarm, 

Let thy broken heart rejoice 

At thy Lord's forgiving voice ; 

Wash thy robes in Calvary's streams, 
Bathe thy soul in Heaven's bright beams. 



IV. 

Christian I change thy cry of sadness 
For the song of joy and gladness. 
Let soft hymns of praise arise 
In the place of groans and sighs. 
Constant Psalms to Zion's King, 
Daily, loudly, sweetly sing ; 

Let naught be heard but grateful sounds 
Where God's amazing grace abounds. 



V. 

Brother ! yes, the voice of gladness 
Rather than the tone of sadness, 
Pleases Him whose side was riven, 
All thy guilt might be forgiven. 
From whose heart and tortured head 
Rich atoning blood was shed 

Thy heart to cleanse and render white, 
Thy head to deck with crown of light. 



J 50 '' Rejoice in the Lord AkuayT 



VI. 

Sister ! yes, the smile of gladness 
Rather than the look of sadness, 
Honours Him whose mercies mild 
Made thee His adopted child, 
Clothed thee with the robe of state, 
(rave thee wealth immensely great, 
(xuards thee with a sleepless eye 
Till thou reign with Him on high : 
Then join the songs of praise above. 
And prove thy faith and grateful love. 



THE JOY OF THE LORD 

OUR STRENGTH. 



The joy of the Lord is your strength." — Neh. viii. lo. 
L 

Christian ! cease thy mournful cry. 
Put thy doleful dirges by, 
Take the harp and strike the strings, 
Bid thy faith unfold her wings. 

IL 
Christian ! cease that downcast look 
Of one thy God for years forsook ; 
God has never left thy side, 
God has been thy constant Guide. 

in. 
Christian ! wherefore dost thou wear 
That prison face of grim despair ? 
Ill becomes the look of slave, 
Those whom Jesus loves to save. 



1 5 2 The Joy of the Lor el 



TV. 

Christian! cease thy halting tread, 
Stumbling feet and drooping head, 
Take the proffered arm of grace, 
Swiftly run the Christian race. 

V. 

Christian ! banish all thy gloom, 
Life's last end is not the tomb, 
Through its shattered bolt and bar 
Brighter visions beam afar. 

VI. 

Christian! hush those deep-drawn sighs, 
Wipe the tear-drop from thine eyes ; 
Jesus died for thee in love, 
Jesus lives for thee above. 

VII. 

Christian ! banish slavish fear, 
Never weep the faithless tear, 
Bid distrustful doubtings cease. 
Taste the joys of perfect peace. 

VIII. 

Christian ! thy great Lord enrolls 
In His army thankful souls; 
From His ranks He bids depart 

Joyless soul and thankless heart. 



Oiir Strength, 1 5 ; 



IX. 

Christian ! like the eagle raise 
Ever sunward all thy gaze ; 
Christian ! like the eagle soar 
Ever upward, more and more. 

X. 

Christian ! if thou joy in grace, 
Thou shalt swifter run the race, 
Firmer tread the narrow way. 
More than conquer in the fray. 

XI. 
Cease then, cease thy m.ournful cry, 
Downcast look and deep-drawn sigh. 
Walk with God in grateful love 
The freeman's path to realms above. 

XII. 
On thy soul His love has smiled. 
Live as God's adopted child, 
Live not as the heir of woe. 
As you homeward, Godward, go. 

XIII. 
Heir to thrones and harps of gold, 
Eden's wealth of bliss untold ; 
Praise should be thy loved employ, 
God is honoured by thy joy. 



I 54 The Joy of the Lord, of 



XIV. 

Christ has scattered all thy night, 
Christ has made thy garments white, 
Walk in light, and joy, and peace. 
Bid thy gloom for ever cease. 

XV. 

Ever bright and brighter still, 
Let thy soul its course fultil, 
Like the sun's increasing ray, 
Shining on to perfect day. 

XVI. 

Like a river's flowing stream, 
Giving back each joyous beam, 
Bearing blessings far and wide. 
On its ever-onward tide : 

XVII. 

Let thy life resplendent shine 
With a glory all divine. 
And with constant onward flow 
Richest gifts profusely sow. 

XVIII. 

Till thy joyous life of love 
End in perfect bliss above, 
And the earthly song of praise 
Blend with seraphs' sweeter lays. 



THE ISTHMIAN GAMES. 



LINES SUGGESTED BY THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE REV. JOSEPH 
m'CORMICk's LECTURE ON " THE ISTHMIAN GAMES," AT WHICH 
THE BAND OF THE WATERFORD CHRISTLA.N YOUNG MEN's IN- 
STITUTION WAS EXPECTED TO ATTEND. 

I. 

To-morrow, good M'Cormick comes, 
With sound of trumpet, beat of drums, 
To tell our city's peerless dames 
The way they played the Isthmian Games. 

II. 
With grandest postures, most dramatic, 
And looks tremendously ecstatic, 
With lip compressed and haughty pride 
To shew how Gladiators died. 



III. 
With muscles strung to toughest tension, 
And breathing kept in long suspension, 
To shew the world the sinewed charms 
Of burly wrestlers' brawny arms. 



J s6 The Isthmian Games, 



IV. 

With buskined foot and giant stride 
And heel with feathered wing suppHed, 
With speed the dusty course to trace, 
And gain the goal and win the race : 

V. 

To shew how swiftly racers ran 
With earnest zeal their measured span, 
With bended neck and straining eyes 
Fixed on the fading earthly prize. 

VI. 

And thus to draw the moral sage 
So needed in this worldly age, 
To wrestle bravely with the foes 
Who drag us down to endless woes. 

VII. 

To fight as those whose noble aim 
Is not to gain some worthless fame. 
Or barren meed of praise on earth 
But God's own smile of lasting worth. 

VIII. 

With ponderous arm and lusty blows 
To bruise and crush our deadly foes, 
And not as they who only care 
To bruise the wind and beat the air. 



The IstluiiicDi Games. 



IX. 
Nor life's entangled mazes thread 
With halting gait and limping tread, 
But run as those who seek a crown 
That withers not when thrones go down. 

X. 

To spur and stimulate to zeal 

In seeking everlasting weal, 

And gain, when ceases earthly strife, 

The guerdon of Eternal Life. 



O/ 



VALENTINE AND ORSON. 

THE iMELANCHGLY COMPLAINT OF AN AGGRIEVED 
AND OVERBURDENED CLERGYMAN. 



[To understand this it is necessary to state that a first-class school 
being considered necessary for the upper classes residing in 
Waterford, Mr Lawson, the Solicitor-General, exerted his in- 
fluence, and obtained the establishment of what is called a 
Diocesan School in the city of Waterford : a school which is 
not allowed to be self-supporting, but in virtue of a ver^-- old 
law, is supported partly by a tax on the beneficed clerg>' of the 
Dioceses of Water.'ord and Cashel, which include the counties 
of Waterford and Tipperary. Mr Valentine was the first and 
truly excellent master appointed by Government.] 



L 

When I was young a song was sung 

Of Valentine and Orson, 
But now each ear is forced to hear 

Of Valentine and Lawson. 
They say the age in growing sage 

Digs up historic acts, 
To wash them white and set them right, 

Reversins: all the facts. 



Valentine and Orson. i 59 



II. 

That Bloody Mary, gentle fairy, 

Was sweet as sugar-candy, 
Richard himself no humpbacked elf, 

But m.ost attractive dandy. 
That blufl King Harry, forced to marry 

Poor ladies without number. 
Was cold as ice, and free from vice 

As any worthless lumber. 

III. 
However strange appears the change, 

We yet are asked to do it. 
Purge Cromwell's taint and dub him 
saint, 

As though we always knew it. 
Each ruthless Nero now's a hero, 

A herald from the skies. 
While noble heroes sink to Zero, 

As monsters in disguise. 

IV. 

Our faith is tasked \^hen we are asked 

By this reversing juggle. 
To hold the creed that treason's deed 

Was always Freedom's struggle ; 
That streams of blood were shed in 
love 

At grim Bartholomew, 
And British might was put to flight 

At gallant Waterloo. 



1 60 Valentine and Orson. 



V. 

In olden tirae the poor man learned 

At wealthy men's expense, 
The tables now completely turned, 

Give rich men poor men's pence. 
With eager paws and tiger claws 

To snatch away the bread 
From Ian thorn jaws and famished maws, 

And gi\'e them naught instead. 

VI. 

Each merchant lord of Waterford, 

In princely splendour living, 
With costly wines and groaning board 

His weekly banquet giving, 
Goes cap in hand throughout the land, 

To men of lowly station, 
To knuckle down and pay their crow n, 
And give his son, if sage or clown, 

A city education. 

VII. 

The savage Orson in the song, 

By Valentine subdued, 
A harmless man was led along 

In tame and quiet mood. 
But now poor Valentine is led 

In Lawson's leading strings, 
His nature changed, from peace estranged, 
A man of clubs and sturdy drubs 

And blood-producing stings. 



Valentine and Orson. 1 6 1 



VIII. 

With stinging birch to force the Church 

Its hoarded pence unfold, 
With threshing-flail to make us wail 

And yield our grains of gold. 
We used to stare with bristled hair, 

At freaks of old Munchausen, 
His worst can ne'er with those compare 

Of Valentine and Lawson. 

IX.* 

For is it right that belted knight, 

With greedy grasping paw, 
On lucre bent, on spoil intent. 

Should use a musty law^, 
With legal flail to levy mail. 

To fill his empty satchel, 
Right up and down in every town 

Through W'aterford and Cashel. 



Our children blunder o'er the wonder 

Of Valentine and Orson, 
But sons of thunder must knock under 

To Valentine and Lawson : 
Each weighty tax that bends our backs 

Screws down our patient thumbs 
With stinging crush, but Lawson' s brush 

Sweeps off our children's crumbs ? 
L 



1 62 Valentine and Orso7i. 



XT. 

Sons I have none, no, sir, not one, 

But daughters more than nine, 
And these I may, they kindly say, 

Send up to \^alentine. 
My girl Priscilla says 'twould kill her, 

With such a man to dine, 
She 'd sooner wed the great gorilla 

Than meet this Valentine. 

XII. 

I find no charm in summer's calm, 

It brings to me no rest ; 
Nor can sweet spring with healing wing 

Revive my drooping breast. 
But winters cloud with sombre shroud 

Envelops me in gloom ; 
With constant dread I seem to tread 

The precincts of the tomb. 

XIII. 

Twelve mouths to feed give pressing need 

To swell my scanty store ; 
Though reading tries my failing eyes, 

And writing grows a bore ; 
I 'm forced to write both day and night, 

Reviews and sermons many, 
My girls to frock and feed my flock. 

And earn an extra penny. 



Valeiitinc and Orson. 1 63 



XIV. 

My health of late begins to fail, 

I 'm worked to skin and bone ; 
The doctors say that good pale ale 

Will give me flesh and tone. 
Instead, alas ! of draughts of Bass, 

They make me pale with woe, 
By bitter pill that makes me ill, 

From Valentine and Co. 

XV. 

My eldest daughter m decline 

They say, to wound my pride. 
With diet rich and full port wine 

Must straightway be supplied. 
My angel child serenely smiled, 

As one whose race was run, 
And meekly said, with drooping head, 

" Thy will, my God, be done." 

XVI. 

To sweeten now our bitter lot 

We really are not able. 
We can't keep hot our coffee-pot, 

Or spread a snug tea-table. 
On Sundays we just sweeten tea 

With one small lump, a coarse one ; 
Our sugar goes to soothe the woes 

Of Valentine and Lawson. 



164 Valeiiti7ie and Orson. 



XVII. 

The clothes I wear would make you stare, 

Their seediness is great, 
My last new hat so ancient that 

I blush to own its date. 
I sometimes share the raiment bare 

Of scarecrow in the field, 
Without a sigh I make the guy 

His better garments yield. 

XVIII. 

Of boot or shoe we have but few 

All trodden down at heel. 
While naked toes chilblains disclose 

Would make a Nero feel. 
Each door-way needs new bolt and latch, 

Each window newly glazing, 
While rotten patches dot the thatch 

With verdure most amazing. 

XIX. 

]\Iy little folks have ceased their jokes, 

And hushed their merry joys. 
They heard me say I could not pay 

For even farthing toys. 
Whene'er they see a cup of tea. 

Or tiny ounce of butter, 
With all their lungs their loosened tongues 

A loud Te Deum utter. 



Valentine and Oi^son. 165 



XX. 

Their little frocks and tiny socks 

All tattered, darned, and worn, 
Do much deform each angel form 

With wretched rags forlora ; 
Each head has on it nature's bonnet. 

Silky flowing hair, 
While all, yes all, the one old shawl 

In fixed rotation wear. 

XXI. 

The praties go like melting snow. 

And stirabout likewise, 
While o'er our plains it never rains 

Sweet manna from the skies. 
We have to pay hard cash each day 

For all we have to swallow, 
Results are seen in visage lean. 

And cheeks most gaunt and hollow. 

XXII. 

Things at the first will not be worst, 

There is no hope of mending, 
The Pedant's purse will plague us worse, 

And yearly need distending. 
This Valentine will tendrils twine 

Around some fair one's heart, 
And blandly sing of wedding ring 

And Cupid's flaming dart. 



1 66 Valentine and Orson. 



XXIII. 

Whcit lovely pet or lady yet, 

"''Vhat wench on bench, or form divine 
On stately throne, was ever known 

Reject a Valentine ? 
On February's fourteenth morn. 

In each revolving year, 
A little Valentine in lorn 

Will in the world appear. 

XXIV. 

If single he must buy his tea 

With money wrung from others, 
W^hat will he do to feed a crew 

Of half a dozen brothers ? 
My troubled breast can find no rest 

Weighed down with wearing grief, 
I 'm overpressed and sore distressed 

And droop like fading leaf. 

XXV. 

I earned some praise in former days. 

By giving paupers knowledge, 
T)Ut now my purse its dregs disburse 

To feed a wealthy college. 
When young I 'd pay to see the play 

Of " Valentine and Orson," 
But now my shilling goes unwilling 

To Valentine and Lawson. 



Valentine and Orson. 167 



XXVI. 

Ye merchants dressed in Tobin's best, 

With garments ever new, 
Your wardrobes crammed and rammed and 
jammed 

With wraps and shawls and overalls 
'Gainst wind and rain, while mine contain 

One tattered old surtout : 
Hats countless grace your daughter's face. 

My daughters have no bonnet, 
The golden rule to Lawson's school 

Apply, and act upon it. 

xxvii. 

Yes ! pause and shrink, and calmly think 

What you would have us do. 
If you each day had scanty pay, 

And we were rich like you : 
W^hat scathing shame, what blighting blame. 

Will fill your cup, if you, 
With fatted ox and fifty flocks, 

Should take the poor man's ewe. 

XXVIII. 

You do much worse than take our purse ; 
To pick our pocket you unlock it 

With such a cranky key, 
A law so rusty, old and musty. 

It grates most horribly ; 



i68 Vale7iti7ie and Orsoii, 

Stirs up bad feeling hard of healing, 
Anger, wrath, and malice, 

A thousand ills and woes distils 
From envy's bitter chalice. 



XXIX. 

Why tax a stranger s crib and manger, 

Fifty miles away, • 

To cram with oats your wild ass colts. 

And teach them how to bray? 
Why not relax this hateful tax, 

As needless as unjust, 
And pass a rule to make the school 
Support itself without this pelf. 
And those who profit only of it 

Pay down their shining dust? 

XXX. 

Nor falsely judge we meanly grudge 

Your sons a first-rate school, 
We hope and pray they ever may 

All leave the Pedant's rule. 
In Science, each a Faraday, 

In Classics, each a Person, 
We only sdcy yoji ought to pay 

Your Valentine and Lawson. 

Diogenes Threadbare, B.A., 
Rector of Tubred, Co. Tipperary- 



THE BREVITY OF LIFE. 



■ \\'e spend our ^'ears as a tale that is told.'"' — Psalm xc. 9. 
I. 

Our life is short and brief, 

A swift revolving year ; 
That fails with wasting grief, 
Fades as the falling leaf, 

flails as the dropping tear. 

II. 
Melts like the autumn snow, 

Or ocean's dancing foam ; 
Dies like the sunset glow, 
Or softest winds that blow, 

On Ceylon's sultry home. 

III. 
Swift as the flashing ray 

Of lightning's glancing blaze ; 
Brief as the meteor's stay, 
Or shuttle's rapid play, 

We spend our mortal days. 



I 70 The Brevity of Life. 

IV. 

Swifter than passing gleam 

Of pleasure-yielding tale, 

Or midnight's grateful dream, 

Or summer's trickling stream, 

Whose fickle waters fail. 

V. 

As actors here on earth," 

We tread the puny stage, 
First tears and feeble birth. 
Short span of grief and mirth. 
Then manhood sinks in age. 

VI. 

But in those dazzling rays, 

High up in courts above. 
With glory all ablaze, 
Are thrones of endless days, 
The gift of boundless love. 

VII. 

Bright in unfading green. 

To grace the victor's hand. 
Immortal palms are seen. 
And crowns of lustrous sheen, 
Where saints and seraphs stand. 

VIII. 

Brother 1 the prize is great, 
Right worthy to be won. 
Then shun the sluggard's fate, 
Fling far each cumbrous weight. 
And 2:ird thv loins to run. 



The Bi'evity of Life. i 7 1 

IX. 
Press on towards the skies, 

Speed swift the path to glory, 
Fix full thy straining eyes 
On Him who holds the prize, 

And ran the race before thee. 

X. 

Let not the world entrance, 

Or tempt thee once to halt, 
Think how a backward glance 
Stopped in her safe advance 

That Beacon-light of salt. 

XL 
Still onward, upward, higher, 

With utmost strain of soul, 
With hopes that never tire. 
And zeal's unflagging fire, 

Press on to reach the goal. 

XII. 
A few more fights to gain, 

A few more streams to ford, 
And free from sin and pam, 
In bliss we dwell and reign 

With Christ our loving Lord. 

XIIT. 

A few more darts to shun, 

A few more storms to weather ; 

A few more steps to run, 

And then, the haven won, 
W^e rest and rei^n together. 



I 72 The Brevity of Life. 

XIV. 
A few more hills to climb, 

With Christ's broad banner o'er us, 
And then farewell to Time, 
And bright in light sublime, 

Heaven's eates shall flash before us. 



DREAMS. 



Dreams are true and passing sweet, 

The love-sick maiden sighs, 
Yes, dreams are sweet, in them we meet 

The manly form we prize ; 
And sit in myrtle-covered bowers, 

In ecstasies of bliss, 
And talk of wedding rings for hours. 

With now and then a kiss. 



No ! dreams are ugly horrid things, 

The Parlour-maid declares, 
Such double knocks and startling rings, 

And running up the stairs ; 
Such scolding and upbraiding tones 

Assail our sleeping ears, 
Such pains afflict our aching bones. 

Our dreams are full of tears 



1 74 Dreams. 



III. 

No, dreams are very jolly things, 

The laughing school-boy cries, 
In them the hand of fancy brings 

Such lots of grub before our eyes : 
Such stunning tarts and monster cakes. 

Such puddings crammed with plums, 
On which we feast till dawn awakes 

And sweeps away the crumbs. 

IV. 

Dreams are droll and funny things, 

The humorist replies, 
In them we fly without our wings, 

And see without our eyes ; 
We leap and dance without our feet, 

We shout without our lungs, 
We feast on air as dainty meat, 

And sing without our tongues. 

V. 

Dreams are foolish things and vain. 

Philosophers reply, 
The au-y vapours of the brain, 

Like bubbles floating by ; 
The senseless ravings of the head, 

When it has dropped the reins, 
As helpless as the feather bed 

To guide its muddled brains. 



Dreams. 1 75 



VI. 

Dreams are pleasant while they last. 

The Senator replies. 
In them with ease we firmly grasp 

Ambition's noblest prize ; 
'Mid foaming seas to overwhelm. 

Our skill the storm controls, 
We pilot safe the reeling realm 

Through tempests, rocks, and shoals. 

VII. 

In dreams the dullest poet sings 

In song of highest flight, 
And proudly spreads his paper wings 

Above the starry height ; 
Sits down among the favoured few 

With Royalty to dine, 
x-\nd sells his last new poem too 

For twenty pounds a line. 

VIII. 

Our dreams are sweet at blush of dawn, 

The worldly Parson cries, 
With croziers, mitres, sleeves of lav/n, 

We dazzle vulgar eyes ; 
And fill with portly pomp and ease 

Cathedral stalls and thrones. 
With cushions padded soft to please 

The Church's fattest drones. 



1/6 Di^emns. 



I 



IX. 

The Barrister without a brief 

To buy an ounce of snuff, 
In dreams forgets his wearing grief 

And pockets fees enough ; 
Vaults to the bench in swift career. 

In ermined splendour rides, 
Sits on the woolsack as a peer, 

And over Lords presides. 



The ragged Pauper in his dream 

Dons garments free from dirt, 
A suit without a tattered seam, 

New hat and snow-white shirt ; 
Sits down to ribs of fattest beef 

And Titan legs of mutton, 
In foaming tankards drowns his grief 

And gorges like a glutton. 

XI. 

A dream can stretch a cottage wall 

To any earthly size, 
Till lofty room and noble hall 

Surround our wond'ring eyes ; 
Deal stools and broken-bottomed chairs 

Are turned to sofas soft. 
And modest flights of wooden stairs 

To marble steps aloft. 



D7^eams. 1 7 7 



XII. 

The Doctor shakes his learned head, 

And rubs his poHshed chin, 
Says, dreams float rudderless ahead, 

Like fish without a fin. 
We cannot tell the guiding laws 

Which rule the sleeping mind, 
But if we only knew the cause, 

The reason we could find. 

XIII. 

We tell our patients dreams abed 

Dyspeptic symptoms show 
Of shattered nerves or fevered head, 

Or spirits running low. 
But we ourselves are none the worse 

For dreams that soothe and please. 
When dukes and princes fill our purse 

With fifty-guinea fees. 

XIV. 

Dreams are rare and precious things, 

The weeping Felon cries, 
For balmy dew is on their wings, 

As angels from the skies : 
Yes, pleasant dreams are sunny beams 

That pierce the prison's gloom. 
To cheer with bright and hopeful gleams 

The captive's dreary tomb. 



1 78 Dreains, 



XV. 

Soft dreams of mother's tender care, 

Of sister s loving kiss, 
Of sabbaths in the house of prayer. 

And childhood's simple bliss ; 
Of daisies in the dewy field, 

In long-forgotten days. 
And chime of bells that sweetly pealed 

Their silver song of praise. 

XVI. 

And dreams are sweet to sailors too, 

Amid the rudest storms. 
When sweetly spread before their view 

Pass wife and children's forms : 
Dreams o'er their sleeping spirits cast 

Their spell serene and soft. 
When bending mast before the blast 

Comes crashing down aloft. 

XVII. 

His dreams abundant solace yield 

The last eventful night, 
The soldier in the tented field. 

To nerve him for the fight : 
In his own cottage home he stands. 

By wife and child caressed. 
While medals placed by queenly hands 

Adorn his manlv breast. 



Dreams. 1 79 



XVIII. 

Dreams soothe the student's heated brainr> 

In midnight's silent hours, 
Like gentle dews and balmy rains, 

That freshen drooping flowers ; 
The mind distressed by fevered head. 

Replumes its weary wings, 
And from its dream-producing bed 

With new-found vigour springs. 

XIX. 

The soothing dream consoles the mind 
And needed strength imparts, 

While dreams of horror undefined 
Have broken stubborn hearts ; 

Sweet dreams of childhood's happy home- 
Have turned the outcast back, 

No longer truant-like to roam 
In error's downward track. 

XX. 

Then steer we clear the sad extreme 

Of superstition's creed. 
Nor idly deem that nightly dream 

Supplies no mental need — 
True wisdom owns God gave us dreams 

For purpose wise and true, 
Its verdict shuns both rash extremes, 

And lies between the two. 



HOPE OR POPE? 

HOPELESS OR POPELESS ? THE 
QUESTION FOR ITALY. 



I. 
Italia 's in a hopeless state 

As long as she her Pope retains, 
But Hope will sing with folded wing 

Whene'er her Pope no longer reigns. 

IT. 

There is no Hope with reigning Pope, 
For Pope with Hope could ne'er agree; 

There'll be no Pope with reigning Hope, 
For Hope will set his people free. 



Tir. 
There may be such a wondrous thing 

As bravely hoping still 'gainst Hope, 
And past historians do sing 

Of Pope antagonist to Pope. 



Hope or Pope ? 1 8 1 



IV. 

But hoping still against the Pope 
Is futile, senseless, hopeless, vain ; 

The tyrant knows his people's Hope 
Would quickly terminate his reign. 

V. 

The anchor of St Peter's bark 

Beneath the wave lies fathoms deep ; 

Its chain-bolts forged in ages dark, 
When freedom's sons were fast asleep. 

VI. 

And yet the sanguine Earl of Russell. 

Says, '' Father Pope, if I were you, 
On Malta's heights my law I 'd rustle," 

And Odo Russell cries, " Oh, do I ""''" 

VII. 
" Just anchor safe your tossing Church 

W'here Paul escaped a briny tomb, 
Lest some rude disrespectful lurch 

Should pitch you headlong to your doom. 

VIII. 

" Like Jonah's fish prepared to save, 
Valetta's harbour open stands, 

To snatch a Pontiff from the grave. 
And land him safe in friendly hands. 

* In the difficulties surrounding the Popedom in 1862, Earl 
Russell proffered the Pope an asylum at ]Malta, and Mr Odo 
Russell was commissioned to make the offer to his Holiness at 
Rome. 



1 8 2 Hope 07^ Pope ? 



IX. 

" When once from Rome the hated form 
Of priestly thraldom disappears, 

To sweetest calm shall sink the storm, 
And Romish matrons hush their fears. 

X. 

" In palaces replete with ease 

We'll place thy Council's stately thrones, 
With cushions padded soft to please 

The Church's softly-pampered drones." 

XI. 
Quoth Pio Nono, " Shall I go 

From Rome's eternal seat. 
Where kings to kiss my sacred toe 

Fall prostrate at my feet ? 

XII. 

" And like a pauper eat the bread 

Vile heretics bestow, 
And trust my consecrated head 

In England's hands ? No, no ! " 

XIII. 

Vain Hope ! to Hope against the Pope, 

Infallibly consistent ; 
Vain Pope! to quench the light of Hope 

In doggedness persistent. 



Hope or Pope f 183 



XTV. 

Fair Italy must strike the scale, 
The storm she cannot weather, 

Or ride in safety through the gale 
With Hope and Pope together. 

XV. 

Her verdict lies 'twixt Hope and Pope, 

For both she cannot keep ; 
Send Pope adrift, or bury Hope 

In everlasting sleep. 

XVI. 

For there's no Hope with reigning Pope 

Whose law "s a fixed decree, 
There'll be no Pope when reigning Hope 

Sets fair Italia free. 

XVII. 

Great Judge of Peasant, Prince, and Pope, 

To judgment swift arise. 
With glory crown the people's Hope, 

And grant them Freedom's prize I 



THE DONKEY AND THE 
RACEHORSE. 



THE BIRTH, LIFE, SORROWS, DEATH, 
AND BURIAL OF A DONKEY. 



■• All In the Downs the fleet was moored." 
I. 

All in the grass on village green 
The baby donkey first was seen, 
The smallest little darling beast, 
Of dearest tiny foals the least. 

IL 

All in the shafts his life was past, 
'Mid summer heat and wintry blast. 
In drawing coals from dawning light 
Till darkness veiled the world in night. 

in. 
All in the midst of thistles rank 
And stagnant pools, he ate and drank, 
While many a blow and lusty whack 
Battered his ribs and bruised his back. 



The Donkey and the Racehorse. 185 



IV. 

His value harshness failed to spoil, 
His daily round of plodding toil 
His master s board with bread supplied, 
And warmed a thousand hearths beside. 

V. 

All in the dust the donkey laid. 
Kicked up his heels and loudly brayed. 
Then uttered one tremendous snore, 
Closed both his eyes, and breathed no more. 

VI. 

All in a heap of rotting dung, 
Where paupers worthless rubbish flung. 
His worn-out bones were rudely cast, 
To fester, but to rest at last. 



THE BIRTH, LIFE, EXPLOITS, DEATH. 
AND BURIAL OF A RACEHORSE. 



I. 
All in the straw of stable clean 
The infant racer first was seen, 
Its titled owner's kindling eyes 
With rapture hailed the new-born prize. 



1 86 The Donkey anel the Racehorse. 



II. 

All in the midst of courtly peers 
The racer spent his early years, 
Christened by lords and loudly blest, 
While fairest hands and lips caressed. 

III. 

All on the Downs his pace was tried, 
A hundred members by his side, 
While in the eyes of knowing grooms 
The thousand-guinea tankard looms. 

IV. 

And when at length the race was run, 
The goal was reached, the cup was won, 
His praise was thundered long and loud 
By prince and peasant in the crowd. 



All in the Times his deeds were sung. 
All through the land his praises rung, 
While flowing bowls of sparkling wine 
Were drained to toast the steed divine. 

VI. 

His noble owner s fortune went. 
On breeding, training, jockies spent ; 
And racked by sleepless care and thought. 
His famous cups were dearly bought. 



The Donkey and the Racehorse. 187 



VII. 

His keep and guard a constant drain, 
His stakes but rare uncertain gain, 
Winning or losing, swift or slow, 
He filled a thousand homes with woe. 

VIII. 
At length to glut his owner's pride, 
The lash and spur were madly plied, 
While streamed with gore his tortured side, 
He shrieked, leaped, touched the goal, and 
died. 

IX. 

All 'mid the deaths of noted men. 
With learning's best and noblest pen, 
Exerting all its brilliant powers. 
The press records his latest hours. 

X. 

All in the glare of blazoned scroll, 
The Turf his pedigree enrol, 
W^hile graven cups of solid gold 
His wondrous excellence unfold. 

XI. 
His corpse in lordly park is laid, 
Beneath the broad dm's ample shade. 
While massive piles of costly stones 
Cover with pride his rotting bones. 



1 88 The Donkey and the Racehoi^se, 



MORAL. 

I. 

E'en thus among the human hive 
The brainless drones in splendour thrive, 
While plodding useful workers know 
No respite from derision's blow. 

II. 

Creatures from Italy and France, 
Who please by vicious song and dance, 
Are prized and petted, crowned, applauded, 
With clouds of golden incense lauded. 

III. 
While wise inventors, pastors, teachers, 
Moral heroes, writers, preachers, 
Must meekly bear their luckless fate, 
A pelting storm of scorn and hate. 

IV. 

The fool with honour's sash is belted, 
The sage with execration pelted. 
The useless drones with favour loaded, 
The useful bee despised and goaded. 

V. 

The world that feeds with lavish hands 
The rogues who scatter folly's brands, 
Pays with harsh words and harsher deeds 

The men who scatter wisdom's seeds. 



The Donkey and the Raeeho7^se. 1 89 



VI. 

To those who pander to their pride 
The means of hfe are well supplied, 
While those who strive to check their lust 
Are rudely trampled in the dust. 

VII. 
They pamper those w4th ample pay 
Who strew with flowers the downward way, 
But thrust aside with bitter scorn 
The guides to glory's endless dawn. 

VIII. 
Men pour their heaps of golden dust 
On those who feed their pampered lust ; 
Hard blows, contempt, and paltry dole 
On those who feed the deathless soul. 

IX. 

The world has always crowned as great 
The men who most deserved its hate, 
And crowned with thorns or withered bays 
The men who best deserved its praise. 

X. 

The world has ever madly slain 
The men who would its sins restrain ; 
'Twas so with Jesus, Stephen, Paul, 
Apostles, prophets, martyrs, all. 



igo TJie Donkey and the Racehorse. 



XI. 

And yet 'tis well, the end in view 
Should simply be, all good to do, 
And toil in hope of no reward, 
But from the hand of Christ our Lord. 

XII. 

A nobler crown than earthly bays, 
And sweeter words than human praise. 
And richer wealth than gold await 
The lowly saint, at Zion's gate. 

XIII. 
A lasting throne in fadeless halls, 
And endless joy that never palls, 
A higher rank and nobler name 
Than brightest seraph-princes claim. 

XIV. 

From angel hosts a welcome home 

That fills the vast and lofty dome, 

And, richer gain than kingdoms won. 

The Saviour's hearty praise, "Well done !" 



THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 



For with Thee is the Fountain of Life, and in Thy Hght shall we 
see Hght." — Psalm vi. 9. 



Fountain of life and light, 
Scatter my death and night 
With Thy life-giving streams, 
And all-pervadmg beams. 



Fountain of love and grace, 
My sin's deep stain efface. 
Thy grace and love alone 
Can melt this heart of stone. 



in. 

Fountain of help and rest, 
Visit my burdened breast, 
Bring health and swift relief 
To my consuming grief. 



1 9 2 The Fountain ofL z/c\ 



IV. 

Fountain of truth and peace, 
From error's chain release, 
And bless this soul of mine 
With liberty Divine. 

V. 

Fountain of all our health. 
From Heaven's exhaustless wealth 
Pour forth the healing tide 
From Thy deep-wounded side. 

VI. 

Fountain of all our strength. 
In all its breadth and length 
Reveal Thy love Divine, 
And seal and make it mine. 

VII. 
Fountain of purest joys, 
And bliss that never cloys, 
With richest balm console 
This weary aching soul. 

VIII. 
Fountain of all that's good. 
Conceived or understood. 
Thy help I loudly crave, 
Hear, bless, relieve, and save. 



The Fo7nitain of Life. 19^ 



IX. 



When gloomy tempests lower, 
Be Thou my spirit's power, 
And 'mid the battle's strife 
Be Thou my spirit's life. 



Be Thou my shield and sun 
While life's short race is run. 
When death's dark shadows fall 
Be Thou my God, my all. 

XL 

When earthly cisterns fail, 
When earthly splendours pale, 
Dawn on my ravished sight, 
The Fount of endless light. 



THE STONE OF ZION. 



' Behold, I la}^ in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a 
precious corner stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth on 
Him shall not be confounded." — Isaiah xxviii. i6. 

I. 

Sinner ! see the Stone of Zion, 
Safe as rock-work to rely on, 
In thyself the feeblest worm, 
Let thy trust in Him be firm. 



n. 
On the battlements of Zion, 
Blazoned deep with Judah's Lion, 
Floating on the midnight sky, 
Waves the red-cross banner high. 

in. 
Standard of a thousand fights. 
Crowning Zion s lofty heights, 
He who wars beneath its shade 
More than conqueror is made. 



The Stone of Z ion, 195 



IV. 

Death and hell may stop his way, 
Sin and woe becloud his day, 
But the hand of Judalrs Lion 
Sends him needed help from Zion. 

V. 
Trials sore may vex his breast, 
Thorny griefs disturb his rest. 
But the Prince of Peace is near 
To disperse the rising tear. 

VI. 
Rough may be his path and dark, 
Stormy winds may rock his bark. 
But his Saviour's lifted arm 
Brings the sunlight and the calm. 

VII. 
Sinner, trust the King of Zion, 
Firm as rock-work to rely on ; 
When His promised aid you crave, 
Never doubt His \vill to save. 

VIII. 

Captain of the hosts of Zion ! 
Israel's King I and Judah s Lion ! 
When their trial waxes long, 
Bid Thy people's faith be strong. 



196 The Stone of Zio7i, 



IX. 
Nerve their arm for lengthened fight, 
Put their strongest foes to flight, 
Gird their loins the race to run 
Till the distant goal be won. 

X. 

While they tread the battle-field, 
Ee their constant strength and shield 
Grant them grace the cross to bear 
Till the Victor's crown they wear. 

XI. 
When they reach the river's brink, 
Bid them neither doubt nor shrink, 
Bid them from the heights of Zion 
Thy pledged word of truth rely on. 



LESSONS LEARNED IN THE 
CHAMBER OF SICKNESS. 



I. 

Patienxe to bear my Fathers will, 
When His wise mind thinks best to fill 
My cup with sorrow or with seeming ill, 

Patience to drmk it still. 

IL 
Love to all saints, though seas and mountams part 
And controversy old and sharp and tart ; 
Love to a brother from a brother's heart, 
That with that love would all else free impart. 



IIL 
To hate all sin, the sin that lurks below 
An outward walk as pure as virgin snow ; 
As well as sins that into mountains grow, 
And deep as crimson glow. 



198 Lessons in Chamber of Sickness. 

IV. 

To feel for others in their pains and woes, 
Their sick-bed throbbings, aches, and throes. 
When fevered head forbids the eyes to close 
To freshen nature with one hour's repose. 



V. 

To prize that precious Book of balm, , 

Of cheering promise, soothing Psalm, 
That points to heaven's eternal calm, 
And bids me trust my Saviour's arm. 

VI. 

To prize that great Physician more, 
Whose skilful hand doth daily pour 
The healing balsam on my every sore. 
From heaven's exhaustless store. 

VII. 

To prize more highly that rich purple tide 
That flowed in streams from His most precious 

side, 
When in my place He bowed the head and died? 

The Crucified I 

VIII. 
To know that unity and tender care 
That led Him my poor nature's garb to wear, 
Its burdens carry, and its sickness bear. 
And all its sinless sorrows share. 



Lessons in Chamber of Sickness. 199 



IX. 

The sweetness of that sympathy Divine 
Whose tendrils with my heart-strings intertwine, 
Feels, as its own, whatever touches mine, 
And hourly whispers, " Tried one, I am thine." 



Teach me these lessons, gracious Lord, 
Lessons most clearly written in Thy Word, 
But badly learned, or only half inferred, 
Till under Thy sharp rod distinctly heard. 



HYMN TO JESUS. 



Wisest of Pilots ! steer my bark, 

I cannot hold the helm ; 
The sea runs high, the night is dark, 

And tempests overwhelm. 
If Thine all-seeing watchful eye 

Its sleepless vigil keep, 
My trusting soul may well defy 

The perils of the deep. 

II. 

Most tender Shepherd! be my guide, 

I cannot keep my feet, 
In downward paths they often slide, 

Where sin and sorrow meet. 
If Thou direct my onward way, 

And hold my feeble hand. 
My feet shall in the judgment-day 

In Zion safely stand. 



Hymn to yesits. 201 

III. 

Greatest of Teachers ! give me light, 

(Myself I cannot teach,) 
And with that touch that opens sight, 

My deepest darkness reach. 
The highest wisdom I shall gain, 

If at Thy feet I learn, 
Knowledge of saving truth attain. 

From error's ways to turn. 



IV. 

Cleanse, good Samaritan, my sores, 

I cannot heal my soul, 
Thy skill alone our health restores. 

And makes the spirit whole. 
Bind up my bruised and broken heart, 

Assuage my racking pains, 
Give nerve and strength to every part, 

Pour life throusrh all mv veins. 



V. 

If Thou, the Great Physician, cure, 

And healthful vigour give, 
My perfect cleansing is secure, 

My leprous soul shall live. 
My feet with strength shall firmly tread 

The straight and narrow way, 
My arms, to shield my heart and head. 

Wax valiant in the fray. 



202 Hymn to Jesics. 



VI. 

Great Advocate ! conduct my cause, 

I know not what to say, 
I cannot mend Thy broken laws, 

Or any ransom pay : 
If Thou Thy dying merits plead, 

My pardon is secure, 
That plea exceeds my utmost need. 

And makes acceptance sure. 

VII. 

Great Saviour of our guilty race, 

I cannot save my soul ; 
I cannot one dark sin efface, 

Thou, Thou must do the whole. 
Then guide my soul in wisdom's ways. 

Be Thou my health and strength, 
Illume my mind with wisdom's rays, 

And brino: me home at length. 



SONNET 

ON THE DEATH OF MY FIRST-BORN. 



The leaf was falling when my child was born, 
And autumn's blast came moaning through the 

trees ; 
Sear leaves were floating on the chilling breeze 
In circling eddies to the crystalled lawn ; 
The nipping hoar-frost from the ground had shorn 
The last-left beauties of fair Flora's gems, 
Which hung low drooping on their frozen stems, 
Emblems of my quick-blighted hope, from whom 
The honoured name of parent had been torn. 
Ere for one day that name I could assume ; 
And yet, oh! no, not torn, the child still lives, 
Lives in the regions of unclouded day, 
Lives in the presence of the God who gives, 
And giving, owns the right to take away. 



SONNET 

ox THE DEATH OF MY SECOND CHILD. 



Pillowed in softness on thy mother s breast, 

I left thee, Httle one, nor dreamed how soon 

Thy sim would enter on eternal noon, 

Thy spirit seek its speedy granted rest ; 

And as thy tender forehead I caressed. 

My heart beat high with thoughts of future days, 

With hope that thou in infancy might yield 

Thyself to God, and in this world below 

Thy cherub lips might lisp thy Saviour's praise, 

Thy puny arm faith's shield and falchion wield, 

Thy feet tread firmly wisdom's pleasant ways ; 

God heard and struck my gourd ; and yet, oh ! no, 

But bade His angel with the hand of love 

Transplant my treasure to His courts above. 



Ballantyne gt-- Co7npany, PrintLrs^ EdmhurgJi. 



W'^s 



?i^-^J 









'^: 










-'*<^'i 









■fi, 



pK/j^-'f%e; 




















